Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky fans were not the only ones impressed/overwhelmed by what Oscar Tshiebwe did Tuesday night against Georgia in an 85-71 UK victory.
He scored a career-high 37 points and pulled off 24 rebounds — second only to the 28 he grabbed against Western Kentucky on Dec. 22, 2021.
Tshiebwe’s teammates were in awe of what they saw.
“It was like he had four dudes on him and he went up and got an and-one (fouled on a made basket). I ain’t never seen anything like that in my life,” said senior guard Antonio Reeves, an Illinois State transfer. “That’s one of those things, I’m like, ‘Jesus Christ,’ you know? It’s crazy.
“I had never seen him going crazy like that. I had heard stories about him but it was one of those moments to actually see it. He made it really easy on the rest of us because he was doing so much. If he’s hot, we are going to get him the ball.”
Reeves said Tshiebwe’s play was like a “beast” that no one could stop.
“That’s the Oscar we’ve been waiting for, for real. He just went out there and was the old Oscar, man. He was down there getting every rebound, put-backs, and dunking it. That is what we needed,” Reeves said.
Freshman guard Cason Wallace watched Tshiebwe and Kentucky a lot last year after he signed with the Wildcats. He had never seen anything like that performance in person before.
“It was different being out there and playing with him,” Wallace said. “You’re just playing, but you look up and he has the numbers that he has? It’s unspeakable.
“He brought a lot of energy to us. We came into the huddle and it was like, ‘Just throw it to (Tshiebwe). Everybody was on the same page about that. We just feed him and he is going to fight and get rebounds and be Oscar.”
Tshiebwe is averaging 17.3 points, 13.8 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.1 blocks per game this season. He’s also shooting 58 percent from the field going into Saturday afternoon’s game against Texas A&M, which is 5-0 in Southeastern Conference play after Wednesday’s win over Florida.
2 Responses
Let’s hope that he can stay out of foul trouble.
Leading by example for his teammates.
Go CATS!
I wonder how many of them understand that Oscar achieves due to his work ethic.