Oscar Tshiebwe almost always had a crowd around him but still had 23 points and 19 rebounds at Missouri. (UK Athletics Photo)
He was not perfect, but Oscar Tshiebwe certainly was Kentucky’s best player — like he is most game — when the Cats got beat down by Missouri Wednesday night.
Tshiebwe had 23 points and 19 rebounds — big numbers even for him — despite being swarmed by Missouri defenders almost every time he had the ball. However, he put as much blame on himself as any team after the game.
“Tonight it was kind of down a little bit (with our toughness) to be honest. We’ve got to be stronger,” Tshiebwe said. “We cannot just let people come in and bully, bully, bully us like we’re little kids. We’ve got to get better, we’ve got to get better.”
Tshiebwe is one of UK’s most physical players, but he’s no bully. Kentucky lacks physical toughness overall and that could be a real problem in Southeastern Conference play, especially after SEC teams see the blueprint Missouri used to beat the Cats.
“I think we’ve got a lot of work we’ve got to do, because we are pretty good. We understand that the coaches have done a great job for us,” Tshiebwe said. “We were expecting to win.
“We just got killed in a lot of one-on-one (matchups) and 3-point shooting. Me myself, I’ve got to step up because the big man Kobe (Brown) was shooting the ball pretty good. I’ve got to make him drive. I’ve got to do better.”
He does but other teammates need to realize the same thing because they are not doing anything near what Tshiebwe did. Seniors Jacob Toppin, Antonio Reeves and CJ Fredrick combined for only eight points, all by Reeves. Reeves, Cason Wallace and Sahvir Wheeler played a combined 85 minutes and did not have a single rebound.
Kentucky already has four losses going into Saturday’s game with Louisville and likely will not be in the top 25 next week. However, Tshiebwe has not lost faith in his team.
“I’ve got to grab my team, we’ve got to get together and figure this out. We’ve got special talents,” he said. “We’ve just got to come together as a team.
“We’ve got to know when we’ve got to take a good shot. We’ve got to know when we’ve got to slow it down, because it seems like we’re rushing many, many shots. But we’re going to get there.”
4 Responses
Oscar is the best player on this team, again this year, and while I had hoped this year he would have some help from the other players, I think he actually is getting less help than last year’s group, if that is even possible. However, Oscar’s game can improve.
Does anyone remember how The Horse, Big Dan handled defenses? He had the ability to know what shot he could take before he caught it and the catch and shooting motion was simultaneous and fluid. Of course, Oscar is special but he should watch a few hours of Big Dan showing the world how to play the low post. Of course, Big Dan was surrounded by real basketball players who could dribble, pass, AND SHOOT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAhY99PfyRI.
For anyone interested in learning about Big Dan, this interview with Kyle Macy is a must-view. There are short video clips of Dan scoring that show what I described above
Wish they could have Issel work with Oscar
why can’t they?
This year’s team, including Oscar, has had more balls ripped out of their hands than any I’ve seen in 20 years… 😡