Oscar Tshiebwe kissed one of his national player of the year awards before a game earlier this season but he's yet to actually play in a game. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky coach John Calipari still wasn’t sure Monday if All-American center Oscar Tshiebwe would play tonight against Michigan State tonight in Indianapolis or not. However, he is confident sophomore Daimion Collins will be ready to go.
Collins missed the first two games after the unexpected death of his father while Tshiebwe has been out since having “minor” knee surgery in October.
“I would expect Daimion to play, yes,” Calipari said Monday. “He practiced Wednesday and Thursday of last week and he practiced Sunday and he’ll practice today so I would say he’s good to go.”
Collins went home to be with his family, returned to Lexington and then went back to Texas for his father’s funeral on Saturday before rejoining the team.
Freshman Ugonna Onyenso and junior Lance Ware have played more with Tshiebwe out. Onyenso is averaging 7.5 points and 7.0 rebounds and Ware 4.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in the first two games.
Calipari confirmed Monday that Tshiebwe wanted to play and has been trying to get ready to play.
“He’s supposed to practice today so we’ll have a better idea,” Calipari said Monday. “He’s been doing the conditioning stuff, he just hasn’t been on that court and that’s totally different. My guess will be he plays three or four minutes at a stretch if he plays.”
“He’s going to have to get through (practice) and make sure there’s no swelling. From what I’m hearing he doesn’t have the lift yet but knowing him, he wants to play but I can’t tell you right now.”
Calipari is not always the most reliable when giving injury updates. However, he seemed to indicate the thought Tshiebwe would play when asked about how hard it might be for Antonio Reeves and CJ Fredrick to get open outside shots if Tshiebwe does not play.
“You’ve got your choice. Don’t let them touch it, stay out there and let Oscar go one-on-one. And then you trap it and Oscar has been a pretty good passer. So he makes it different,” Calipari said.
Michigan State led No. 1 Gonzaga most of the game last week before losing. Calipari is not sure exactly what to expect from No. 4 UK in its first major test this season.
“I have no idea what to expect,” Calipari admitted. “First of all, I don’t know if (Tshiebwe) is playing or how much he’ll play. Sahvir (Wheeler) just joined (the team). Daimion had two days of practice before he left, then he came back. How’s he doing?
“That’s why I’ve said all along – it’s going to take us time to get this right.”
Calipari has played lineups already he probably did not expect to use with Tshiebwe, Collins and Wheeler all missing games — and that was before Calipari warned his team might be “shaky” the first two months of play.
“There will be stuff out there that you’ll say – what in the world did he just do? Well, Oscar’s not been around for four weeks,” Calipari said. “We had Sahvir out for two weeks. Daimion has been out two weeks – in and out. You’re talking about three players that we could be relying on.”
“But, it gave Lance a chance, Ugo (Onyenso) a chance, it gave Jacob (Toppin) a chance to play more, it gave Chris (Livingston) a chance to play three and four. It gave Cason (Wallace) a chance to be a point, which means if we have any hiccups, he can move to point and we’ll be fine.”
