Collin Chandler is the shooter BBN has been hoping for

Kentucky needs a shooter. The one concern about this team is shooting. Who is going to step up and be the shooter? Some version of this comment has echoed around the BBN water cooler since the summer, with fans accustomed to the elite marksmanship of Koby Brea, Reed Sheppard, and Antonio Reeves over the past few years. 3-point consistency as a whole is still a worthy cause for marginal unease with this year’s squad, but the knock-down shooter everyone is looking for might be right in front of our eyes in the form of Collin Chandler. And he is about to get more minutes.

Before you start screaming, “Small sample size!” I get it. We are just a few games into the season, so extrapolating his stats over four games into a season-long certainty is not exactly how science works. But with that caveat out of the way, Collin Chandler has been putting up some impressive numbers.

Collin Chandler is the elite shooter Kentucky needs

Chandler is shooting an impressive 56.5 percent from behind the arc through Kentucky’s first four games. This leads the SEC among players who shoot at least four 3-pointers per game. Chandler is averaging 5.8 attempts per game, but considering he only plays 23 minutes, this comes out to 10 attempts per 40 minutes on the floor.

56.5 percent might not be the same as the 78.9 percent Koby Brea shot through Kentucky’s first four games last season, but he is making more 3s than he is missing, something that most players can’t claim. He also became the first player in Kentucky history to make at least four 3s in each of the first three games of the season before taking it easy on Eastern Illinois.

If you go back to the beginning of March last season, around the time when the LDS elder first shed his mission-induced rust, Chandler has made 25 out of 46 3-point attempts. That is a 54.3 percent clip through 12 games for those counting at home. That sample size may not be as small as you’d think.

Oh, he can dunk too.

Chandler’s presence opens up the offense

In Mark Pope’s offense, space is key, and space is usually generated by defenders’ inability to leave shooters on the perimeter. With Jaland Lowe out, it appears that Collin Chandler is going to slide into the starting lineup, very similar to what Koby Brea did last season when Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson suffered their own injuries. As long as he isn’t forced to play too much point guard (as we saw in the exhibition games, he is much more comfortable playing off the ball), Chandler’s shooting could help his teammates, specifically Otega Oweh.

Oweh, the SEC preseason player of the year hasn’t exactly played up to the hype, and while his turf toe may be part of the reason, clogged driving lanes haven’t helped either. Oweh plays his best when he bullies his way toward the basket. A shooter like Chandler in the corner forces defenders to pick their poison of an Oweh drive or an uncontested 3.

If other Kentucky players like Trent Noah, Kam Williams, and Andrija Jelavic can at least shoot at a reasonable rate, this helps spread the floor that much more, especially when they rotate out Mo Dioubate at the 4.

The keystone of Kentucky’s shooting ceiling, however, is Collin Chandler, and so far, he has been doing an excellent job holding it up.