TyTy Washington enjoyed Friday's win over Ohio. (Jeff Houchin/Nolan Media)
Freshman TyTy Washington’s first double-double at UK — 21 points, 12 rebounds — certainly had to be memorable but it was even a bit more special because he outrebounded Oscar Tshiebwe. Kentucky’s center “only” had 10 rebounds because of first-half foul trouble.
“I’m no machine, I’m TyTy! In high school, I rebounded average, like seven rebounds. It was pretty good to be out there tonight, finally rebounding again. With Oscar not on the floor, you can see a lot of balls are going a lot of different places now. So it was a lot of opportunity for me to get in there and rebound,” said Washington after the 77-59 win over Ohio.
Washington did have four turnovers in 37 minutes but he was 8-for-15 overall from the field, went 3-for-3 at the foul line, handed out five assists, blocked one shot, and made one steal. That was a more typical statistical line like he had in high school compared to his 3-for-14 shooting performance against Duke to open the season when he also had only two rebounds.
“I’m just getting more comfortable, staying in the gym. The team trusts me, the coaches trust me. I know that they might ask for me to get an opportunity to go out there and play and make the best of my opportunities. I feel like every game I’m going to keep improving and getting better and more comfortable as we go,” Washington said.
“Nothing really was uncomfortable; I was just fresh out of high school into the college game. The transition of just physicality, speed, stuff like that was a big adjustment for me.”
He gets another chance to shine tonight when Kentucky hosts Albany. It will be another learning experience and coach John Calipari told him after the Duke loss there would be off shooting nights like that for him and he would have to find other ways to impact the game.
“He pretty much told me to be who I am, be myself, to stay in the gym. Keep working, not every night is going to be your night,” Washington said. “So keep your head up high and move on to the next one, which is pretty much what I’ve been doing.
One Response
Larry, the title of this item is very accurate in my opinion.
Washington’s game has been improving as he has adjusted to the college game. I like the improvements in his shooting accuracy, but I think some of his shot selection has been weak at times. I also like the way he has been willing to go after missed shots and rebound the basketball.