Collin Chandler's teammates are no strangers to his highlight dunks: 'I've seen it a lot in practice'

Get ready to see Collin Chandler‘s dunk against Nicholls on repeat over the next few days (and probably longer).

Chandler tore the roof off Rupp Arena with his monster one-handed slam late in the second half of Kentucky’s 77-51 season-opening win. A crowd that was unenthused after a poor offensive performance through 20 minutes of game time desperately needed some energy to take home with them. Chandler provided that by charging to the rim and dunking all over a Nicholls player who was foolish enough to jump with him.

“It felt good,” Chandler said of his highlight slam. “I’ve gotten a few so far, but it’s my first time having somebody jump with me this time. It was good to have that opportunity, and having Rupp getting excited about it was fun, too.”

Let’s see it again one more time, shall we?

OH MY COLLIN CHANDLER pic.twitter.com/sSbSjLHl58

— KSR (@KSRonX) November 5, 2025

Chandler’s athleticism has been on full display since he arrived on campus last summer. He threw down a huge dunk in last year’s Blue-White Game to let everyone know what he was about. At Big Blue Madness, he’s been crowned the Dunk Contest champion in back-to-back events. Head coach Mark Pope posted one of his impressive highlight dunks to social media back in the offseason.

Even in the exhibitions over the last couple of weeks, he’s been throwing down hammers in transition — but nothing like what we saw against Nicholls. This was an all-timer. That being said, those types of dunks apparently aren’t too uncommon behind the scenes.

“Most definitely, all the time. He does all the time,” Denzel Aberdeen said when asked if he’s seen Chandler dunk like that before. “I’ve seen it a lot in practice, but in games it just looks crazier. It was definitely SportsCenter top one for sure.”

Kentucky’s victory was already locked in by the time Chandler unleashed hell on Nicholls defender Grant Sanders, but those are the plays that inject life into both the fanbase and the rest of his teammates. The crowd was buzzing about his dunk for what felt like the rest of the game. It gave Kentucky the largest lead of the entire night at 32 points.

“When Collin had that dunk, I’m like, I’m gonna try to get a steal and go do the same thing, go dunk on somebody,” Mo Dioubate said. “It’s good energy, that’s what we talk about a lot.”

Chandler said in his postgame press conference that he’d love to have a physical poster of his dunk for his own personal enjoyment. But it wasn’t just the dunk that made his night. The sophomore posted a career-high 15 points (5-8 FG) to go along with four assists, two rebounds, and two steals in 24 minutes. His defense helped set the tone from the opening tip.

He did, however, admit that he needs to work on his post-dunk trash-talking.

“Probably thanks for jumping, it was a good contest,” Chandler said with a smile when asked what he told the Nicholls defender after the slam. “Something like that.”

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