For the majority of this SEC season, Collin Chandler had been Captain Clutch. He hit the turnaround in Fayetteville, stole the ball at Tennessee, and threw the bomb to Moreno to defeat LSU. During conference play, he was making 3-pointers at an unprecedented rate of 45.7%.
After struggling against Auburn, he then burst for a great career game against Vanderbilt when the Cats needed a big victory. But for Chandler and Kentucky, this past week has been the worst.
Collin Chandler went from Captain Clutch to a disappearing act
Collin Chandler had some of his worst performances along the home stretch, when Kentucky needed to win one game to secure its position.
Chandler was a combined 5-19 with 7 turnovers against Auburn, Texas A&M, and Florida yesterday. What has changed, then?
Mark Pope claims that everyone in Chandler’s immediate vicinity was involved in the play. “We were pretty stagnant today,” Pope remarked, adding that a player like Chandler would have a chance every time a Kentucky player reached the rim and failed to create a play for a teammate.
How do you fix that is the real question?
There have been reports of confrontations in the locker room and player animosity, and Kentucky has been accused of being self-centered. Even players like Oweh have been known to refuse to pass the ball, even when it was to a teammate who had plenty of space. How can a coach force a squad to play together when they don’t want to?
I firmly think that’s what’s going on in Lexington at the moment. You have a coach who is doing all in his power to assemble the team he had in mind at the beginning of the season. A squad that would play freely and joyfully, push the ball, move it quickly, and share the ball with one another.
This Kentucky squad has battled this season, yet you have a team where several players put their heads down and drive straight at the rim.
You have to consider the entire squad and speculate as to what transpired in order to determine where Collin Chandler went.
