Collin Chandler (Vicky Graff Photo)
At one point last season Kentucky was without injured point guards Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Kriisa which greatly impacted coach Mark Pope’s first season at UK.
That certainly has to be why Pope will err on the side of caution with transfers Jaland Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen, his starting point guard and backup guard, both nursing minor injuries.
Lowe (shoulder) and Aberdeen (leg) did not play in Thursday’s exhibition game loss to Georgetown. Lowe also did not play when UK beat preseason No. 1 Purdue last week but Aberdeen did and helped run the offense.
“D’s got a sore leg and trying to get 100 percent healthy. We are taking precautions with him. I don’t know where J Lowe is going to be but I’d like to have those guys back in action within the next week or two I’m hoping,” Pope said after the loss.
With Lowe and Aberdeen not playing, that put sophomore Collin Chandler in a starting point guard role for the first time and the offense never really got in sync.
“I thought Collin was exactly what you would expect. I thought he battled, I thought he competed and made some mistakes,” Pope said. “With Collin Chandler, the interesting thing is he played the most minutes (28) on the team. While playing the most minutes on the team, he was one of the leaders in plus minus in a game where we kinda got run out of our own gym.
“Even with that, he’s 0-for-5 from 3 and he’s got five turnovers. But still, he’s a -7 where we got a lot of -16s, -10s, -9s on the scoresheet. He has a positive impact on the court.”
Pope still believes Chandler will “get way better” the more experience he gets will be an “outstanding” player. The coach said Georgetown’s defense was different and “hard for our whole team to navigate” and that did not help Chandler.
“I thought Collin was exactly what you saw tonight, both good and bad. He’s going to be a terrific, terrific player,” Pope said.
Kentucky lacked familiarity at the point with both Lowe and Aberdeen out. However, once again Pope found the positive, not the negative, even after the loss.
“It’s a great opportunity for our younger guys to grow as Collin Chandler’s first start ever. (Freshman) Jasper Johnson was put under real duress tonight which is exactly what he needs. That’s how you grow and get better,” Pope said after the game.
“I played Otega (Oweh) one more minute than I was supposed to. That’s not good. Kam Williams got a chance to feel the physicality of the game and he’s really going to grow from that and I thought it was good for our back court. I think it’s good for our whole team.”
14 Responses
Chandler did not look that good against Purdue and even worse against Georgetown. Maybe Pope is trying to build up his confidence with Lowe and Aberdeen on the mend, but Collin needs to make the most of this opportunity while it is there. Johnson looked just as bad in the Georgetown game, but EVERYONE looked bad in that game. The Louisville game is 10 days off and Michigan State a week later. Hopefully, Pope will be working on the offense more while also giving time to the 2-3 zone for when Chandler and Noah are in the game at the same time. Hopefully, the team learned that hero ball is not the answer as well as the value in making free throws.
Lowe should be able to play Tuesday, if not start. Aberdeen's issue may not resolve until the Louisville game. If Lowe can start against Louisville and Aberdeen can go for 4 or 5 minutes each half, that should take the pressure off of Chandler who appears to be a slow starter. Hopefully, Aberdeen will be back to full speed by the MSU game. I would like to see Quaintance get some PT before the North Carolina game with Gonzaga and Indiana following. He shouldn't be asked to go into SEC play cold. I guess Pope still has nightmares of how injuries impacted our season last year, but he has to let these kids play. If they go down with injuries as a result, it's better to learn that before SEC play gets here. The kids want to play. Pope needs to stop being their Momma and start being their coach.
I don't think Aberdeen is hurt too bad. He was shooting around and even did an allyoop dunk before he went to the locker room before the Georgetown game.
Does Colin Chandler believe he is going to be a great player? We were getting all the hype how good in practice and that this would be his year. It may still be and let's hope so.
Chandler struggled last year with a negative net efficiency, but near the end of the season, his play improved. His B/W game was more consistent with his season ending level of play rather than his negative efficiency performance for last season.
However, his game performance in both exhibition games were in the red for Chandler, which is not a good sign.
As BK hopes that he may still be much improved to be a factor this season, and we can all still hope so, but I have not seen any substantive basis for that hope.
I am still having a problem rinsing Georgetown loss. That game is on Pope. He knows what style Georgetown plays and was totally unprepared for that or make any adjustments. What did they key on during the week? We are going to take some upsets during the year, but we lost be the margin most predicted a W. Too early in the season for a $20M team to play like that.
How does the coach not know when they players will be ready from a injury? Are they faking? Holding out over money? I'm starting to think alot of these "injuries" that Kentucky has is because of finances not a real injury. Pope says id like to have Lowe back in the next week or 2. He would like to have him back doesn't make sense in the grand scheme of things. He should be evaluated by a doctor and the doctor says it's about a week or 3 weeks. He has a shoulder injury last year he had a broken finger I'm starting to think he makes up excuses for poor play with oh I'm hurt. I dont know its kind of funny when someone playing basketball which isn't a real physical sport is always hurt. Or how about Aberdeen? I said when we got him it was a bad move we should have gotten a true point guard. Aberdeen came here for money and money only. He's a Florida kid who grew a Florida fan. He played on a national championship team and wqs going to be the starting 2 guard for Florida this year and he leaves with one year left for Kentucky. Florida could have told him we will give you a million to go to Kentucky and ruin everything there and oh you will also be getting paid more money from Kentucky. He's not a NBA type player. This is his last chance to cash in of course he's going go where the money is but also he's already been paid. Now he dont care as much. I think these guys should sign contracts. If your hurt you only get a portion of your contract. You get paid a game fee like you contract is you get acheck every week. If you win both games you get a little bonus if you lose one and win one you get your normal pay. Lose both and you get less money. There has to be some type of rules or something set up for all this. Thats like JQ… What if he came here because w have the best trainers and best doctors. To get himself ready for the NBA. Remember his dad was saying September first he will be ready. Almost 100% guaranteed. Its November 1st and he's still out of practice and contact for at least another month or 2. He might be ready by conference play but I doubt it. Kids and parents are using this nil money in all the wrong ways and can get a big contract by having a good year. Get the money then flop.
I think your on to something there. We deal with an extraordinary unavailable report each week in FB which is about double of any of our opponents and now wondering if the same in BB. I am guessing not many, if any, SEC opponents have on the sidelines at beginning of season.
Correction….3 on sidelines.
This is what I came up with on injuries.
Kentucky 3
LSU 2
Texas 2
Tennessee 2
Texas AM 2
Vandy 2
Florida 1(Boogie Fland)
Alabama 1
Auburn 1
Mississippi State 1
Missouri 1
Oklahoma 1
George andOle Miss 0
We may need to come up with a better strength and conditioning program.
It's a Brave New World.
Chandler to me is a fairly athletic complimentary player .. thats about it ..a run to the corner guard for a 3.. if he's a focal point we're in trouble
Chandler has shown some flashes for sure and certainly he has had time to recover from his Mission. I am wondering if it is a confidence thing? Maybe marriage has been a distraction.
JQ injury was baked in.