The 2025-26 NCAA season tipped-off this week, and for the Kentucky Wildcats, they rolled to a 77-51 win in their season opener against Nicholls State. But the real highlight of the game wasn’t the final score, it was a thunderous dunk thrown down by sophomore guard Collin Chandler, an early candidate for the dunk of the year.
The dunk came late in the second half with Kentucky leading by 30 points, when Collin Chandler drove into the lane, was met at the rim by Nicholls State forward Grant Sanders, and proceeded to rise up and thrown it down, generating a huge reaction from the home crowd at Rupp Arena.
Chandler is entering his sophomore season in college after making his awaited debut last year. Chandler had originally committed to BYU when Mark Pope was still Cougars’ head coach, but opted to enter the transfer portal and follow Pope once he was hired by Kentucky. Chandler spent two years after graduating high school on his mission as part of his Mormon religion, thus delaying his NCAA debut.
Last season, he appeared in 30 games off the bench as a freshman, at a little over ten minutes per game. He averaged 2.7 points and 1.0 rebounds with splits of 36.1 percent shooting from the field, 34.7 percent shooting from the three-point line and 86.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
During the win against Nicholls State, Chandler finished with 15 points, two rebounds, four assists, two steals and one blocked shot in the first start of his college career. He shot 5-0f-8 (62.5 percent) from the field, 4-of-7 (57.1 percent) from the three-point line and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.
Kentucky came into the season as No. 9 ranked team in the preseason AP Men’s Basketball Poll, and are in their second year under Pope as head coach. Last season, Pope led the Wildcats to a 24-12 overall record, 10-8 in SEC play, and to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
