Rick Barnes explains how Kennedy Chandler developed in first season

Kennedy Chandler put together a standout freshman season for Tennessee – there’s no question about it. A former On3 Consensus five-star recruit out of the Class of 2021, Chandler averaged 13.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists while shooting 46.4% from the field to help the Volunteers capture a SEC Tournament championship and make a run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Although Tennessee – which was seeded at No. 3 – suffered a 76-68 loss to No. 11 Michigan on Saturday to end its season, that doesn’t take away from what Chandler was able to accomplish in his first year with the program. While he’s projected to be a first-round pick in the NBA Draft, Chandler hasn’t yet made a decision on what his next step is – but he certainly has the full support of Tennessee coach Rick Barnes, who spoke highly of Chandler following the Volunteers’ loss to Michigan.

“Well, where we are today in college basketball, you can sit here and ask any player on the team that every player on the team is going to have a choice, if they want to, with the transfer portal being what it is, going overseas to play,” Barnes said. “I can come up with a lot of different things. But in terms of Kennedy, he came in. He is just a great kid, a teammate.

“He never, ever made it about him. I don’t think he ever walked in acting like ‘I’m a one-and-done player.’ I don’t think that at all. He came in wanting to win. I think if you would – you probably saw his emotion. It was much more than that in the locker room, because this is a group of guys that are extremely close. They really have bonded in a way that doesn’t often happen anymore. But he got so much better, and I think so much of that had to do with his teammates.”

Chandler finished the season strong for Volunteers

While Kennedy Chandler had a big season for Tennessee, it wasn’t always easy at times – and Rick Barnes made that clear. But despite some of the struggles the star player went through during his first collegiate season, the Volunteers’ head man is proud of how Chandler battled through and finished the campaign.

“I told him, I think you think it’s going to be this easy every night, and it’s not going to be this easy, and you have to be willing to know that you’ve got to grow,” Barnes said. “You’ve got to grow – not just offensively. You’re going to have to learn to guard the basketball and learn how to guard ball screen coverage and all that, and it took him a little bit longer from that angle. But once he decided to – and, again, locked into it – he did. He started working at it.”

With the help of Chandler, Tennessee put together a 27-8 season, which included a 14-4 mark in SEC play.