The Dunk Will Make Headlines, But Collin Chandler's 'Elite' Defense Early Sets Tone for Kentucky in Win Over Nicholls

It wasn’t pretty for Kentucky in the first half of Tuesday’s 77-51 win over Nicholls. If you were just watching the box score, Collin Chandler didn’t make a huge impact in the first half, scoring just four points on 1-for-4 shooting. However, that’s overlooking his defensive impact.

Chandler, the 6-foot-5 sophomore guard, was a crucial piece in Kentucky’s first-half defense. Kentucky coach Mark Pope praised his efforts during Tuesday’s postgame press conference.

“I thought Collin started off the game elite defensively,” Pope said. “I thought he made great defensive plays early in the game. Again, none of us had much of a rhythm offensively, so it was nice to see him find some comfort level on the offensive end late, too.”

It wasn’t just Chandler who helped Kentucky overcome offensive woes with elite defense. The Cats allowed just 15 first-half points, holding Nicholls to just 12 percent from the field on 1-for-12 from three-point range.

“I was so proud of our guys’ first-half defensive performance,” Pope said. “We really, really focused the last several days on communicating defensively and trying to fill some different assignments. I thought we did very, very well in the first half.”

Chandler said that defense was something the team “hit on this week” in practice. He praised the overall team defense.

“Being in our gaps was something we hit on big this week,” Chandler said. “Obviously, offensively, it wasn’t great for the first little bit, but that’s always something we can lean on, effort defensively, making it hard on teams to score. That’s what kept us alive for a long time.”

Great Defense Leads to Great Offense

Why are we talking so much about Collin Chandler’s defense? I mean, did you see that dunk?

OH MY COLLIN CHANDLER pic.twitter.com/sSbSjLHl58

— KSR (@KSRonX) November 5, 2025

“What was going through my mind was that I got past my guy, and the lane kind of cleared out. It was like a clear path,” Chandler said of the dunk. “I went up to dunk, and the guy came over, so I had to hang a little bit longer to wait for his hands. He goes up to block, and I was waiting for his hands to pass me before I actually dunked it.”

Chandler’s night hit a stride in the second half when he went for 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting, including going 3-for-3 from deep. It wasn’t just his scoring that made an impact.

Chandler also dished out all four of his assists in the second half. However, it all started with his defense.

“It’s a pump up for us, but it’s also deflating [for the opposing team]. You can see them deflated,” Chandler said. “When they’re late into the shot clock and they have a good possession, and then it just ends with someone making a good play on defense in help. It’s devastating to an offense. You can kind of feed off that. It’s exciting when you have a team like that.”