Florida wanted to push Oscar Tshiebwe away from the basket and it worked

Oscar Tshiebwe could not handle Florida's defense. (Vicky Graff Photo)

After a 1-3 start in Southeastern Conference play, Kentucky has ripped off six straight league wins going into Tuesday night’s home game with Arkansas, a team on a four-game SEC winning streak.

But is there reason for concern after what Florida did to UK All-American Oscar Tshiebwe Saturday night? The Gators held him to 2-for-14 shooting from the field and only four points — he did have 15 rebounds, including seven on offense.

Tshiebwe clearly was frustrated, a point teammate Jacob Toppin emphasized after the game, because the Gators basically did it without giving a lot of extra help to Colin Castleton. His length and positioning totally befuddled Tshiebwe.

“Colin, I think he’s one of, if not the best, defensive players in the country. He’s proven that all year by his block numbers and by our two-point field goal percentage as a defense,” Florida coach Todd Golden said after the game.

“We liked that matchup, one on one for us on the defensive side of the ball. Colin has gotten so much better defensively than he was last year. Obviously, we wanted to make him (Tshiebwe) turn over his right shoulder and finish that way. Oscar is a lot more effective within five feet than he is outside of five feet. So, we’re trying to make him get catches away from the rim.”

Golden said the seven offensive boards are “kind of what he does” but the coach was delighted with the way his team limited Tshiebwe’s scoring chances.

“For him to go 2-for-14 without doubling… I thought Colin had a great game defensively.”

Tshiebwe said before the game he had no “fear” of playing Florida and Castleton, who openly talked at SEC Media Days in November about how eager he was to face Tshiebwe.

Castleton had 25 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field and 7-for-7 at the foul line. He also had eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks and one steal.

Castleton said the key against Tshiebwe was to be aggressive.

“I feel like just limit the closest catches to the basket, being able to get around the rim. He’s super effective right now and he’s a strong guy. He’s just one of the most active players in the country, so being able to just use my length was the biggest thing that they tried to tell me,” Castleton said. “That was the biggest thing to be honest.”