Tennessee point guard Kennedy Chandler tied a UT single game record Tuesday night, recording seven steals in the Vols’ 86-44 win over Presbyterian.
The seven steals ties the freshman with seven Vols for the most in a single game in program history. Vincent Yarbrough was the most recent Tennessee player to record seven steals, doing so against UNC-Greensboro in 1998.
Chandler made it happen on both ends of the court, tying Justin Powell with a game high 15 points. The Memphis native did it on seven-of-14 shooting while dishing out seven assists and not turning the ball over.
“My defense gets my offense going,” Chandler said. “Me beating my defender up, me getting hot hands on him, me pressuring the ball. Stuff like that. Coach tells me my quickness— I should use that on defense, not just the offensive end so I’ve been taking that in, listening to coach Barnes and just ways to defend my man and pressure the ball more. Picking up higher now and not waiting until half court.”
The former five-star point guard is averaging 14.3 points and 5.2 assists in his first six games, so it was no surprise to see him have offensive success.
All season, Barnes has emphasized how good of a defender Chandler could be if he put in the effort. The seventh year head coach was thrilled with what he got from Chandler on the defensive end.
“Point guards get tagged a lot up there,” Barnes said. “Kennedy, I thought, fought hard and tried really hard to get his coverage right and fight through some screens where they didn’t affect us, and it’s simple. You see how electrifying he can be on offense. From the coach’s standpoint you ask the question, ‘why not on defense?'”
Chandler and the Vols will look to continue their strong defense and play Saturday night when they travel to Boulder to face Colorado in their first road game of the season. Tennessee and Colorado will tip off at 2 p.m. ET. FS1 will broadcast the game.
