{"id":76189,"date":"2024-11-22T23:12:45","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T05:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/collin-chandler-ever-since-i-was-15-years-old-i-know-that-ive-wanted-to-play-for-coach-pope\/"},"modified":"2024-11-22T23:12:45","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T05:12:45","slug":"collin-chandler-ever-since-i-was-15-years-old-i-know-that-ive-wanted-to-play-for-coach-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/collin-chandler-ever-since-i-was-15-years-old-i-know-that-ive-wanted-to-play-for-coach-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"Collin Chandler: \u201cEver since I was 15 years old, I know that I\u2019ve wanted to play for Coach Pope.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s going to continue to take time, but freshman Collin Chandler<\/a><\/strong> is slowly beginning to put it together. He took another step in the right direction on Friday night during Kentucky\u2019s 108-69 win over Jackson State. <\/p>\n

Chandler only saw 13 total minutes of action, but he made the most of every second. The 6-foot-5 guard finished with six points on a pair of made three-pointers. He also added two rebounds, a steal, and a block. Most notably, he led the entire team in plus\/minus with a +29.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollin is not scared,\u201d Head coach Mark Pope<\/a><\/strong> said postgame. \u201cHe checked in the game and raced down and shot a 30-footer in transition and was like \u2018Yeah, I\u2019ve got this.\u2019 He\u2019s an incredible talent. None of us, I can\u2019t, there\u2019s nobody in this room that can relate to going and putting down the basketball for two years<\/strong>. He is an extraordinary talent and we are all going to be surprised with what he turns into, but we shouldn\u2019t be. He\u2019s really an extraordinary talent. Beautiful, beautiful young man too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chandler took two full years off from basketball after high school for his Mormon mission. Even simply picking up a ball during that time was rare. The focus for his first college offseason was to ramp up back to where he was two years prior. There was a minor injury early (not unusual) upon his initial arrival in Lexington but he hasn\u2019t skipped a beat since.<\/p>\n

Fans have to remember that he\u2019s still a freshman though, even if he\u2019s older than a traditional first-year player. He\u2019s only played five real games in two years. But he knew that playing for Pope was going to help make up for that lost time better than any other coach could. While at BYU, Pope coached plenty of guys who went through what Chandler did. It\u2019s why Chandler originally committed to BYU as a four-star high school prospect. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also why he followed Pope to Lexington. <\/p>\n

\u201cEver since I was 15 years old, I know that I\u2019ve wanted to play for Coach Pope<\/strong>,\u201d Chandler said. \u201cI\u2019m glad that I get to do it now. It\u2019s fun every day and he pushes us to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what to expect,\u201d Chandler continued. \u201cBut I knew I was going to be learning from Coach Pope and that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happened. I\u2019m learning every day to pick his brain and learn from him every day. It\u2019s definitely expanded my basketball knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only time this season that Chandler looked out of place was during Kentucky\u2019s win over Duke when he saw just two minutes. But he\u2019s seen double-digit minutes in the Wildcats\u2019 other four games. Chandler had six points against Jackson State, just a few days after recording five points, one assist, and one steal in 16 minutes during a win over Lipscomb.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight, it felt like I took a step forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Collin Chandler: \u201cEver since I was 15 years old, I know that I\u2019ve wanted to play for Coach Pope.\u201d<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s going to continue to take time, but freshman Collin Chandler is slowly beginning to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}