Oscar Tshiebwe has all the numbers to be national player of the year

Oscar Tshiebwe (Vicky Graff Photo)

If he’s not the leading candidate for national player of the year, then Kentucky junior center Oscar Tshiebwe has to be close. ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes knows who would get his vote today.

“I think he is the leader for the national player of the year,” Dykes said. “There has also never been a more grateful kid to put on a Kentucky uniform.

“He also intimidates dudes on the floor more than anybody I have seen in the last 20 years when the ball is shot. Tshiebwe is a bad man.”

How bad? Let me count the ways:

— He is the first UK player to have a 20-point, 20-rebound game since Mike Phillips versus Tennessee on Jan. 10, 1976, when he had 26 points and 28 rebounds. Tshiebwe had 21 points and 22 rebounds against Mississippi State Tuesday.

— Between the 1973-74 and 2020-21 seasons, three UK players — Mike Phillips, Chris Mils and Jared Prickett had at least 20 rebounds in a game. Phillips did it three times while Mills and Prickett did it once each. Tshiebwe has had 20 or more rebounds in five games this season, tying Blake Griffin and Tim Duncan for the most by a major-conference player since 1996-97.

— Twice he has broken the Rupp Arena rebounding record previously held by Shaquille O’Neal. He had 28 rebounds against Western Kentucky and 22 against  Mississippi State.

— He leads the country in rebounding (15.2 per game), offensive rebounds per game (5.2) and defensive rebounding percentage (36.3 percent). His 303 total rebounds are 37 more than the next best total by any college player this year.

— He is the only major conference player averaging at least 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, one reason he is one of 15 players selected to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List.
  
— He leads No. 12 Kentucky in scoring (16.3), rebounding (15.2), steals (1.6), blocks (1.6) and field-goal percentage (61.5).

Just don’t call him a machine. Instead, Tshiebwe prefers another word for his prolific rebounding.

“I think you can call me a beast,” Tshiebwe said after the Mississippi State overtime win. “I got to get to 30 (rebounds) to call me a machine. It feels good. I like this game to get ready for (No. 5) Kansas (on Saturday). Kansas will not be an easy game. It will be a game like this.”

National college sports writer Aaron Torres is a believer in Tshiebwe.

“I mean, I think we’re all just starting to take for granted how absurd Oscar Tshiebwe is on a nightly basis,” Torres posted on Twitter after the Mississippi State game.  “14 points and 28 boards vs. WKU , 13 and 20 vs. Mizzou, 19 and 17 vs. Georgia, 21 and 22 tonight. Folks, this is your mid-season National Player of the Year.”