Oscar Tshiebwe wins award that Anthony Davis did not win

Oscar Tshiebwe (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kentucky junior Oscar Tshiebwe has done something Anthony Davis did not. Tshiebwe was named the National Player of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Davis was the Associated Press  Player of the Year and John Wooden Award winner in 2012 after leading UK to a national title by Michigan State’s Draymond Green was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches Player of the Year.

Tshiebwe was not only the first Kentucky player to win this award but also the first Southeastern Conference player to be named the basketball coaches.  He was also tabbed the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year, an award Davis also won in 2012.
 
“First of all, I want to thank God for everything that he has done for me and my family,” Tshiebwe said in a release from UK. “I want to also thank my coaches, the UK staff and most importantly my teammates for helping me to get to where I am today.

“I also want to thank the Big Blue Nation for your support. I’m very grateful for everything. God bless.”
 
Coach John Calipari had Marcus Camby named NABC Player of the Year in 1996 when he was the coach at UMass but he knows how special Tshiebwe was this year when he made double-doubles look routine.
 
“The things that he’s done haven’t been done for 50 years,” Calipari said in the UK release. “Let me say this again, the things that he’s done haven’t been done for 50 years. He plays his heart out and finds ways to impact every game. I’m proud of him, and it’s not only on the court. He’s so thankful and faith-based and he’s a joy to coach.”
 
The UK junior averaged 17.4 points and a nation-best 15.1 rebounds per game — the first Division I player to average at least 15 points and at least 15 rebounds per game since Drake’s Lewis Lloyd and Alcorn State’s Larry Smith each did during the 1979-80 season. He became the first major-conference player to average at least 16 points and at least 15 rebounds since Bill Walton at UCLA in 1972-73.

Tshiebwe also added 1.6 blocks and 1.8 steals per game — something no other major conference player did during the regular season. 

He had double-digit rebounds in his final 21 games, a school record, and became just the third Wildcat ever to have 500 or more rebounds in a season.

He also became only the third player in program history to amass at least 500 rebounds in a season. Tshiebwe finished the year with 515 boards.
 
Tshiebwe had 20 rebounds against Duke in the Champions Classic and had 28 rebounds in a win over Western Kentucky. He had double-doubles in his final 16 games and had 28 double-doubles during the season.
 
He ended the season becoming only the second Wildcat since 1978-79 to finish the season leading the team in points per game (17.4), rebounds per game (15.1), steals per game (1.8), blocks per game (1.6), and field-goal percentage with a minimum of 100 attempts (60.6 percent). Davis was the only other player to do that.