Collin Chandler's heat check is proof he's going to be a 'really special player,' says Mark Pope

There was a moment of Kentucky‘s blowout win on Senior Night vs. LSU where Collin Chandler got a little carried away. The Wildcats were up by 35 points and the freshman guard had just assisted on an Ansley Almonor three before drawing an offensive foul. He was a few minutes removed from an offensive rebound and second-chance three himself to go with the pair of 3-pointers he hit in the first half.

Chandler was feeling himself a little bit and made that clear by pulling up from the Rupp Arena logo well over 26 feet away with a hand in his face, only to find the back iron, leading to an and-one three the other way with the rookie called for the foul.

Incredible game for Chandler overall — his best in blue and white — but a poor sequence.

“Collin played a terrific game,” Mark Pope said Thursday. “That one shot was — I mean, I think he knew, everybody knew, and we knew that he pushed the envelope a little too far, right?”

Thing is, the Kentucky head coach loved it. Why? It’s a sign of growth, Chandler doing something in a game he wouldn’t think of trying weeks ago, let alone months ago when his journey as a Wildcat began.

That moment was proof, Pope believes, the former top-35 recruit is going to be a special talent one day in Lexington.

“I actually loved that moment. I met with Collin the next morning, just very briefly, and we kind of joked about it. I love it, that’s how we grow,” Pope said. “We want to fail as fast as we can because failure is not final. Failure is just a step in the process of growing. The more failures you can stack close together, the more you learn, the more you grow, the more data you collect and the better player you become.

“Being unafraid of that, that was the best part of that moment. He was unafraid. It’s like, ‘Hey, man, I think I’m feeling it. I don’t know if this is right or not, but I’m going for it.’ That’s why he’s going to be a really, really special player.”

That’s the messaging to all of his players, especially the younger guys trying to figure themselves out at this level. A cautious, timid approach gets you nowhere — well, other than the bench. To play for Mark Pope at the University of Kentucky, you have to believe in yourself and your abilities.

You have to be comfortable failing, no matter how uncomfortable the path to get there.

“I like our young guys because our young guys are trying to be unafraid of failing. They’re trying to fail fast. We believe in failing fast,” Pope said. “… I just talked about this with the group last night, failing fast is really important. But that’s how you learn, it’s by failing fast.

“By stepping out of bounds, you learn what the boundaries are. If you never actually get close to the boundaries, you never learn. You never grow. So we want to fail fast, fail fast, fail fast. We’re not afraid of the failure. Fail fast, gather data, let’s go.

“Let’s go be bold and courageous and fearless and aggressive out on the court — especially as we get into the postseason. That’s where we want to live.”

Pope compared Chandler’s shot — and the confidence he wants all of his players to have — to a bird metaphor his wife, Lee Anne, uses.

“Lee Anne tells me this all the time: ‘Birds are never afraid to land on a branch, not knowing whether it’s going to break or not, because they can fly.’ I want our players to feel that way,” he said. “I want them to feel like they’re not afraid of the mistake.”

Chandler’s shot wasn’t what you wanted in that specific moment, but the confidence he had to take it was everything you want. And it’s why the freshman guard has a bright future in blue and white.