Kentucky’s comeback vs. Florida fell short today, but it’s not for lack of trying on Collin Chandler‘s part. Down 13 with five minutes to go, Captain Clutch once again donned his cape and tried to pull the Cats back into the game, hitting three of his career-high five three-pointers. The third cut Florida’s lead to five with 36.8 seconds to go, but there would be no miracle today in Gainesville. Even so, you have to tip your cap to Chandler, who proved once again that he excels under pressure.
It was a career day for the sophomore wing. He finished with a career-high five threes on seven attempts, tying his career high of 18 points, which he’s hit three times in the last seven games. Today was his 15th game of the season with multiple made threes. He also tied his career high in steals, with three. I’m sure Chandler would trade all of those stats for a win.
“I thought he had a terrific performance tonight,” Mark Pope said in his postgame press conference. “I thought it was just a little bit sticky the first few minutes, but I thought he was — I mean, he’s elite. You know, his numbers are impressive, and he’s making hard shots for us.
“I mean, he cuts so hard, he actually has a ton of gravity. Just as a cutter, we’re just using him as a simple cutter right now, but as we move forward, we’ll be able to even trick that up a little bit. So, it’s not just that he’s really efficient offensively in this game, but he also created a lot of gravity and openings for other guys.”
As Pope said, Chandler’s second-half performance is even more impressive when you consider how much he struggled at the start. Chandler could not fight through screens early on, allowing Xaivian Lee to score seven points in the first five minutes. Lee finished with a game-high 22 points, including four threes.
“I thought Collin was a little rushed early in the game,” Pope said during his postgame conversation with Tom Leach. “I know he’d like to take back some plays early in the game, but I think after he got over that first rotation, I thought he was really good, and clearly, he shot the ball well. We probably missed on describing his defensive assignment most of the night. That’s on me more than it’s on him.”
Even after a shaky start, Chandler found his footing and tried to save the Cats again. A win wasn’t in the cards today, but it’s only a matter of time until we get another Captain Clutch moment — hopefully, with Kentucky not down by double digits.
“I think I’ve been put in positions that I can be successful in, positions I’m comfortable with, positions in every single day practice, and so I think that’s the biggest thing, is not doing anything out of the ordinary that we don’t do every day in practice,” Chandler told reporters.
“Collin is a guy — there’s no secret, he does every single rep, every single day,” Pope said. “He goes as hard as he can. It’s going to continue to translate, and he’s going to get better and better and better. But the game wasn’t fast for him once he got over the initial thrust because of how he does every single rep.”