Mark Pope uses bamboo tree analogy to describe play of Collin Chandler

Kentucky got to see the development of Collin Chandler in his best outing of the season on Wednesday.

Mark Pope credited the career-best effort from Chandler following the 82-61 victory for No. 17 UK over Vanderbilt. The first substitute off the bench for them gave the lineup what they needed and did so throughout the win.

“Yeah, Collin – I thought Collin was just, gave us a massive boost tonight energy-wise,” said Pope. “He’s a two, two, and two guy – two assists, two turnovers, two steals, right. But just the energy and the intensity? Collin has got a really special burst.”

Chandler, a freshman guard, put up career-highs of seven points and six rebounds to go with a tie for a high with two steals while also posting two assists. That accounted for over a quarter of his scoring, as he had scored in just one other game in conference play, and over a third of his rebounding on the season overall.

Chandler was the highest-rated of their freshmen but hadn’t yet shown the same impact that Travis Perry and Trent Noah had. Much of that has had to do with him re-adjusting to the game in general and adjusting to college basketball in general after a two-year mission spent overseas.

“The conversation we kept having is, like, we know exactly where he’ll end up. He’s an incredibly special talent. Like, he’s a really special talent. We know where he’s going to end up. It’s just a matter of  like – it’s just we don’t know how the zig-zag path is going to get you there, right.

Still, over time, Chandler has developed like, as his head coach put it, a growing bamboo tree in the forest with him blooming more and more towards the end of the regular season.

“Collin Chandler? You know, we talk about these, uh, these bamboo trees. You guys know the deal about these bamboo trees? So, if you think about a bamboo forest, you know a bamboo tree can grow up to – I think the Guinness Book of World Records is 36 inches in a day, I think 35 inches in a day. What happens is they grow over time. They grow these massive networks of roots – growing, growing, growing, growing, growing. You don’t see it, right. Then, all of a sudden, they shoot up out of the ground and they’re growing a yard a day almost, which is almost incomprehensible,” explained Pope. “That’s a little bit of Collin Chandler. Like, he has been growing big-time roots. The plays he made today? He’s been making in practice.”

“Collin Chandler has a skillset that’s unique to our team and, we get all our guys back or not, he still has a space on this team this year the more comfortable he gets on the floor where he can do some things on the court that, that are unique for us that are going to be really impactful,” Pope said. “He can be a guy that you watch down the stretch once we get to tournament play that is a difference-maker.”

Kentucky has had to find production from different places in their lineup throughout this season. This could now be the first of more of Chandler doing that to end his first year in college.

“He’s a, I mean he’s a really, really special young man – my goodness,” said Pope. “He is, you know – he’s as good as they come as a human being.”

“He is going to help us in a huge way as move down the stretch,” Pope said. “I was really proud of him tonight.”