Oscar Tshiebwe had 17 points and 19 rebounds in Tuesday's loss to Duke. (UK Athletics Photo)
Remember a few weeks ago when Oscar Tshiebwe said his goal was to average 20 points and 20 rebounds per game?
Guess what? He got close to that against Duke in Tuesday night’s season-opening game. Kentucky lost 79-71 but Tshiebwe had 17 points on 8-for-14 shooting and 19 rebounds in 29 minutes.
What was even more remarkable was that Tshiebwe had 12 offensive rebounds — three more than Duke’s team had.
Teammate Jacob Toppin said Tshiebwe’s play was no surprise.
“We watch it every day in practice. He’s always fighting. He doesn’t take days off. He wants to better himself. And the way he plays in practice helps us as individuals and a team,” Toppin said.
“So he’s always been a fighter, he’s always been a hustle player, and he’s always been that type of dog to just go after rebounds, dive on the floor. He’s been that type of player. So it’s good for us and it’s good for the team.”
Duke freshman forward Paolo Banchero, a player many consider the nation’s best freshman, had 22 points and seven rebounds. He was impressed with Tshiebwe.
“We knew he was going to be on the boards heavy coming in. We did what we could, but obviously that’s what he does,” Banchero said. “He was on the boards heavy. He was challenging us, the bigs, and made it hard for us. A lot of respect to him.”
Tshiebwe also had two blocked shots, one steal, and one assist. He said he just wanted to win.
“That’s what you got to do. If you really want to help your team, you got to fight, so I came out and fight,” Tshiebwe said. “So I was going for everything. I was doing my best.
“I came in to win the game. That’s why I was fighting. I cannot make anybody rebound them for me. That’s why I was going for everything.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari just had one complaint about Tshiebwe’s play.
“He had three jumpers he didn’t take that I was like telling him, ‘Shoot the ball.’ He’s a really good shooter,” Calipari said. “But we got to still figure out how we get the ball to him closer to the basket. But he also can really shoot.”
2 Responses
Yes Larry, Oscar is a hoss. Hopefully we will be looking for more ways to plug him into our offense. I don’t see him as a 15 ft. shooter, but he may prove me wrong. We can still do more alley oops and dump offs to him. As he gets more confident, he will score off of more of his offensive rebounds too. If he can learn to avoid foul trouble and not get hurt, he could be the hoss we ride to an SEC title. Lance wants a bigger role, he has it now. If he can become more productive in that role, we may be able to dance a while in March.
Now we have to get Jacob and Damion to elevate their games at the 4 spot so Keion can play the 3 spot more. I think it was a mistake not to give Dontaie a few minutes. His defense and rebounding have improved. A couple of more 3’s would have had us right back in there…an additional third 3 could have won it for us, and Dontaie can make that shot.
Sahvir had a great game and a bad game. 7 turnovers won’t cut it against a good team. I think he lost confidence in his teammates and tried to do it all by himself in a 5 minute stretch in the second half. Ty Ty forced the action too, at Coach’s insistence. Leave him alone Coach and let him find his way into the offense like he did in the ex games. Sahvir and Mintz need to learn how to play better together too. At times, it seemed like they were playing 2 different games. CJ will be ready to play soon. From this point forward, Sahvir cannot be the leading shot taker or the leading turnover maker. That should be the case as this team builds more chemistry.
We had no answer for Banchero, Keels, or Moore, Jr. Luckily, we won’t play too many more teams whose point guards can also play linebacker. We need to bulk up some at the two and four spots. Too bad Sahvir is 5’9", he got exposed a couple of times going to and around the basket. When teams go to that mismatch, Mintz needs to be moved to the point and that will give Sahvir the rest he needs to finish games.
I hated the outcome but loved the way we competed for 90% of the game. Figure out how to work CJ and Dontaie into the game and GO CATS!
Oscar is a beast, especially on the boards.
"What was even more remarkable was that Tshiebwe had 12 offensive rebounds …"
How is it that the entire rest of UK’s team only grabbed 1 offensive rebound.
The answer is UK had one player (Oscar) last night that played the game as it is intended. There were 3 other players (that were reasonably good support players (Wheeler, Toppin, and Grady). The rest of this team were pitiful.
Chalk it up to what ever excuse you want, Freshman jitters, first time in the bright lights, etc. but no matter how you cut it, this team will not bring this program back into national prominence anywhere but in the dreams and delusions of the Caliparites.