Oscar Tshiebwe had a lot of fans wanting his autograph after Wednesday's open practice in Indianapolis. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Give Saint Peter’s coach Shaheen Holloway credit for being brutally honest when he was asked about Kentucky All-American center Oscar Tshiebwe. Kentucky will play Saint Peter’s tonight in the NCAA Tournament East Region. Tshiebwe was named a first-team All-American by the National Association of Basketball Coaches Wednesday — UK’s first first-team pick since Willie Cauley-Stein in 2015.
He is averaging a team-best 17 points per game and nation-best 15.1 rebounds per game.
The truth? He’s a grown man playing against a bunch of kids,” Holloway said about the impact Tshiebwe has. “That’s how you play. He’s a great player.
“I think with him playing for West Virginia and getting a chance to play for coach (Bob) Huggins and now playing for coach Cal, he’s just got a different mindset. His offense improved under Cal, but he gets after it on both ends of the court.”
Holloway hopes he has a player — KC Ndefo, the nation’s top shot-blocker last season, who is a “smaller scale” of Tshiebwe.
“Not as strong, but they play the same way. Like I said, on a smaller scale. Oscar, he’s a grown man, but I think they’re both similar. They both play really, really hard,” the Saint Peter’s coach said.
“They’re both great defenders and, you know, as far as trying to guard them, we’re just going to play Saint Peter’s University basketball. I don’t have a blueprint right now to guard him.”
Don’t worry. Nobody really has this season.
