Oscar Tshiebwe feels it is a blessing to have his own T-shirt line now but his focus remains on winning. (Vicky Graff Photo)
How does Oscar Tshiebwe always stay in such a positive mood?
The Kentucky junior makes it sound easy.
“I don’t really spend time with a lot of different people I think can change my mind,” Tshiebwe, the Sporting News Player of the Year, said. “I spend time with good people who want to see you succeed in what you do and want you to be better and achieve the same goal with you.”
He says he has no time for those who want to distract him and keeps good thoughts “locked” in his head so he “will always keep fighting” no matter what happens.
Tshiebwe transferred to UK from West Virginia midway of his sophomore year, the season UK went 9-16. He could practice with the team but not play.
“I am glad I came in the middle of the season. I learned a lot of plays and how they were playing,” he said. “It helped me. It was good for me.”
Sometimes teammates did not match his intensity.
“I was working hard (in practice). There were some people complaining, ‘Bro, we are in the middle of the season and we just gotta chill out.’ I just want to get better,” he said.
Tshiebwe also has his own T-shirt line now at Kentucky Branded (https://kentuckybranded.com/oscar-tshiebwe/).
“All that stuff, I just leave it up to God. I’m so grateful. When God opened up an opportunity for you, you should be grateful. They are doing that, and they’ve got some people that Coach (John Calipari) has put in charge of helping me with that,” Tshiebwe said.
“I’m not letting all that stuff get in my head because this is not a great time for me to lose my head because we’re going to enter the tournament, so I just leave it up to Coach and everybody, the people Coach has pulled to help me.”
Kentucky opens SEC Tournament play tonight and Tshiebwe cannot wait.
“I think we are good. We are ready. Coach has some great plays for us for the tournament because he has been there like a thousand times,” Tshiebwe said. “I am going in with the mentality that there is nothing easy.
“If you think you are just going to beat people, they are going to send us home. Whoever we play, we got to be ready. They are not thinking just because they are playing Kentucky that they are going to give up. This is the moment we have to give everything we have got to make our fans happy.”
