Collin Chandler explains what has led to his unreal shooting run early in the season

Collin Chandler is on a heater right now.

Kentucky’s sophomore guard has been a coin-flip outside shooter through the first six games of the Wildcats’ season. The 6-foot-5 guard is now 18-35 from three-point range, good enough for a 51.4 percent mark on just under six attempts per outing. Chandler opened the 2025-26 season by hitting at least four triples in each of his first three games. He went 3-6 on Friday night in a blowout win over Loyola (MD).

Going back to last season, beginning with March 1, Chandler is a combined 30-58 (51.7 percent) from deep. He’s gone 13 straight games with at least one made three-pointer for the ‘Cats.

“There’s a lot of things that I think contribute to it,” Chandler said Friday when asked about his hot shooting stretch. “I shoot a lot, but so does every player in DI basketball. I’ve been getting a lot of great looks from my teammates that haven’t been hard; spot-up shots, I’ve been getting a ton of them. Also, the more I play, the more comfortable I’ve gotten, the more confident I’ve gotten. Those two things are huge for success offensively, is being comfortable and confident.“

We’ve seen Chandler blossom in both areas to start the season. He came to Kentucky having not played basketball for the previous two years due to his mission trip. It took him more than a few months to get back into the flow he had as a top-ranked high school prospect. “I hadn’t shot with a defender closing out at me for two years,” he added. Just getting back into the routine of being a basketball player has helped greatly.

“It took me longer than I would have liked last season,” Chandler said of rediscovering his shooting touch. “But as soon as I got it going and kind of understood what I needed to do, how to control those things that were new when I was on the court, I was able to shoot the ball better.”

But as Chandler also mentioned in the above quotes, his teammates deserve credit for making his life easier. He’s getting spoon-fed clean looks (although more than a few have been highly contested makes). Of Chandler’s 18 made threes this season, 15 of them have come via an assist from another Wildcat. They all trust him to take and make those shots whenever he has the space to do so.

“It’s green. It’s green every time,” Otega Oweh said of Chandler’s outside shot. “We say in practice, if you get in a scramble or a jam, just try to find Collin. He’s gonna shoot it, and it’s probably good.”

Chandler’s breakout performance so far this season (on both ends of the floor) has been welcomed with open arms by the Big Blue Nation. He’s fourth on the team in scoring at 11.3 points per contest, not to mention his 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists. His six blocks are tied for the team lead. His four turnovers this season rank as the lowest among Kentucky’s top six leaders in total minutes played.

And he’s only getting better, too.

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