{"id":83766,"date":"2025-02-19T22:05:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T04:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/mark-pope-referred-to-collin-chandler-as-a-bamboo-tree-i-hope-i-can-continue-to-grow\/"},"modified":"2025-02-19T22:05:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T04:05:50","slug":"mark-pope-referred-to-collin-chandler-as-a-bamboo-tree-i-hope-i-can-continue-to-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/mark-pope-referred-to-collin-chandler-as-a-bamboo-tree-i-hope-i-can-continue-to-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Pope referred to Collin Chandler as a bamboo tree: \u2018I hope I can continue to grow.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Collin Chandler<\/a><\/strong> finally had his breakout performance of the season on Wednesday night against Vanderbilt. <\/p>\n

When you think about Kentucky\u2019s young freshmen, Travis Perry<\/a><\/strong> and Trent Noah<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 two Bluegrass natives who have stepped up as of late \u2014 naturally come to mind. But Chandler, who is technically a freshman following his two-year post-high school mission trip, was ranked higher than both coming into college. Sure, he was a bit behind his rookie counterparts after not touching a basketball for roughly 24 months, but he\u2019s catching up quickly. Due to some injuries in the rotation, head coach Mark Pope<\/a><\/strong> has been sending a few extra minutes Chandler\u2019s way. <\/p>\n

He made the most of every second in Kentucky\u2019s 82-61 victory<\/a> over the Commodores in Rupp Arena.<\/p>\n

Chandler played easily<\/em> his best game of the season. The 6-foot-5 guard finished with seven points (2-5 FG), six rebounds, two assists, and two steals in his 15 minutes of action. His points and rebounds marked season-highs. Chandler\u2019s drive-and-kick ability opens up different offensive dimensions than the other freshmen. His defensive effort is unmatched, even if not always perfectly disciplined. Pope called him off the bench before anyone else. <\/p>\n

This kind of performance was the product of several months of hard work and frustration. While the public never saw the grind behind the scenes, there has been non-stop growth. That growth popped out in real time against Vanderbilt. And of course, Pope had a perfect analogy for it all. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Collin gave us a massive boost tonight, energy-wise,\u201d Pope said postgame<\/a>. \u201cCollin Chandler, you know, we talk about these bamboo trees. You guys know the deal about these bamboo trees. So if you think about a bamboo force, you know, a bamboo tree can grow up to, I think the Guinness Book of World Records is 36 inches in a day \u2014 I think 35 inches in a day. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens is they grow over time. They grow these massive networks of roots, growing, growing, growing, growing, growing, you don\u2019t see it, right? And then all of a sudden, they shoot up out of the ground, and they\u2019re growing a yard a day almost, <\/strong>which is almost incomprehensible. That\u2019s a little bit of Collin Chandler, like he\u2019s been growing big-time roots, and the plays he made today, he\u2019s been making in practice. And he is going to help us in a huge way as we move down the stretch. I was really proud of him tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n

Mark Pope raves about Collin Chandler’s performance.<\/p>\n

“I thought Collin gave us a massive boost tonight”<\/p>\n

References how a bamboo tree can go so quickly in a single day with roots you don’t see. Then all the sudden, they shoot up out of nowhere. Says that’s been Chandler lately. pic.twitter.com\/n82qKqW5H2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) February 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n

This wasn\u2019t something Pope just thought of on the spot either. As we\u2019ve quickly come to learn, he\u2019s far more calculated than that. The bamboo tree metaphor is one Pope had with Chandler earlier in the season. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the reference to bamboo was they grow roots and then all the sudden they grow really fast where you can\u2019t really see the growth that\u2019s going on until it starts shooting up really fast,\u201d Chandler said. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about that before. I hope I can continue to grow like bamboo, go fast.<\/strong> I\u2019m putting in the work every day, I know what I can do and my teammates do as well. It\u2019s just continuing to stack nights like this. On to the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chandler\u2019s freshman season has experienced plenty of ups and downs. There have been sparks of potential with just as many miscues. He was a semi-regular in the rotation through the first five games of the season but only saw double-digit minutes in three of Kentucky\u2019s next 20 games. But Chandler\u2019s roots decided now was the time to unearth itself. It translated into the most confident and productive game of his college career. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great, you know,\u201d Fifth-year center Amari Williams<\/a><\/strong> said. \u201cJust the confidence he\u2019s had just bringing the ball up the court, all the rebounds he got to, I feel like that\u2019s something which was underrated today, just how many rebounds he got and where he got them. Yeah, he was great tonight. He was very confident in himself.\u201d<\/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 Mark Pope referred to Collin Chandler as a bamboo tree: \u2018I hope I can continue to grow.\u2019<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Collin Chandler finally had his breakout performance of the season on Wednesday night against Vanderbilt….<\/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-83766","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\/83766","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=83766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}