Sophomore Collin Chandler scored 11 of his career-best 15 points in the second half as Kentucky pulled away for a 77-51 win over Nicholls on Tuesday to open both teams’ seasons in Lexington, Ky.
The Wildcats began the second half with a 13-4 run in the first 3 1/2 minutes en route to a 49-point second half, and they expanded their lead as far as 32 points.
Chandler keyed a late run in which he drained consecutive 3-pointers and threw down a ferocious tomahawk dunk.
Kentucky’s top scorer last season, Otega Oweh, added 13 points. Freshman guard Jasper Johnson tallied 11 points, and Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen, who missed the Wildcats’ exhibition loss to Georgetown due to a minor injury, added 10 points and six assists.
Kentucky shot just 10-for-31 (32.3%) in the first half but still claimed a 28-15 halftime advantage over an even colder Nicholls team. The Wildcats sank just 3 of 25 field-goal attempts (12%) in the first stanza, including 1 of 14 from 3-point range.
After halftime, Kentucky made its first five shots, including a Chandler 3-pointer, and shot 61.3% overall in the second half (19-for-31).
Overall, Kentucky hit 46.8% of its field-goal attempts to Nicholls’ 30.2%.
The Wildcats wound up with a 51-30 rebounding edge and outscored the Colonels 42-20 in the paint.
Nicholls couldn’t recover from Kentucky’s second-half opening salvo.
Reserve Jalin Rice paced the Colonels with 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Jalik Dunkley added 10 points while Trae English was limited to eight points thanks to 1-for-9 shooting.
Nicholls did outshoot the hosts from the foul line, going 15-for-22 (68.2%) while Kentucky hit 12 of 22 (54.5%) at the charity stripe.
Kentucky will play host to Valparaiso on Friday before visiting in-state rival No. 11 Louisville on Nov. 11. Nicholls will play at Eastern Illinois on Friday.
