The first real glimpse of Oscar Tshiebwe — the reigning National Player of the Year — appeared on Saturday afternoon inside Rupp Arena, as he took total control en route to a 69-59 win over the Yale Bulldogs.
In what was his 33rd career double-double as a Wildcat, Tshiebwe mopped up 28 points and 12 rebounds. After notching just six of those points in the first half, he exploited the Bulldogs’ interior defense, exploding for 22 in the second period.
Head coach John Calipari talked about what changed with the big man from the first to the second half following the win:
“In the first half, when he had shots, he was passing them. Score the ball, they can’t guard you. I told the other guys, again, we have to throw him the ball. You’re driving and he is in the middle wide open, throw him the ball.”
He was able to create much-needed separation down the stretch, scoring 16 of UK’s 20 points in the back half. Yale would score just 32 points as a team in the final 20 minutes.
“We were trying to double him, he’s just a big strong player in there,” Yale head coach James Jones said of Tshiebwe. “We were almost fouling him down there and then make him take the ball out of bounds because we just couldn’t guard under the basket, one on one.”
The Bulldogs battled and kept it respectable, but Jones’ squad had no real answer for Tshiebwe, especially as the game grew longer. He made 13 of 18 shot attempts, five of his 12 boards came on the offensive glass and he also added two assists, two blocks and two steals.
Calipari put it simply after the win:
“We have an advantage, and the kid’s name is Oscar Tshiebwe. You got to throw it to him. If you’re driving and he’s open, don’t shoot it, throw it to him. The crazy thing is if he can’t shoot it, he’ll throw it back to you, which he does.”
There was a revelation of sorts for the Cats in the locker room at halftime. Yale was played hard-nosed and tough, keeping the deficit to just six points at the break. Tshiebwe was a presence, sure, but the clear-cut advantage was nowhere to be seen.
How do you fix that?
Well, just give him the basketball, and the rest will take care of itself.
“Our team needed that. We needed that,” Tshiebwe said. “I told them to give me the ball and if they double-team me, I will kick it out and if they do not double me on the floor, I do not think there are many people who can stop me, so our team threw me the ball.”
What works in UK’s favor is the fact that Tshiebwe is far from the only option that can hurt you offensively. Even when he’s cooking down low, as a defender you still have to weary of the other threats the Cats posses that are all around the perimeter.
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Sahvir Wheeler and Antonio Reeves were each beneficiaries of the extra attention to Tshiebwe, as each guard tallied 10 points.
“At the end of the day, I think in basketball, you have to decide what you are going to do. Are you going to let Oscar score every time or are you going to let the guys who can make some shots, make shots? It’s a hard thing, you have to pick your poison,” Wheeler said. “I think the first half, it took us a minute to realize that. But once we got it going, honestly, when he got it going, we kept throwing it to him and he catapulted our offense. He made some explosive plays.”
That next level in Tshiebwe’s game was a welcomed sight to Big Blue Nation. While he’s been just fine in his return from having a knee procedure in October, there’s been that extra ‘oomph’ missing.
The shots hadn’t fell as frequently and the boards weren’t being manhandled like Rupp Arena’s have become used to. Part of that is due to the fact that Tshiebwe is still yet to reach the “100 percent” moniker.
On his call-in radio show this week, Calipari mentioned that the big man was “about 85 percent,” while noting that his conditioning was “probably a little bit off.”
Compiling 28 points in 38 minutes of game-time at 85 percent would be rather impressive, but Tshiebwe thinks he might be even closer to full strength than his head coach led on:
“I think I jumped up to 95 percent,” he joked. “We are just working and it takes a lot of time. I had never had an injury before, and I had never thought about my knee too much,” he said.
The knee procedure has provided a very real mental hurdle for Tshiebwe. The first time dealing with an injury of that nature is daunting to overcome, even if the pain has almost full subsided.
Now with seven games under his belt and an All-American-esque performance to boot, some of those nerves have taken a hike.
“I had to really think about — I might jump, might do something, it might happen again — but now, my mind is clear, I don’t think about it no more, i’m just hoopin’.”
Tshiebwe hooped his way to one of the best performances of his storied college career on Saturday, an exquisite sign for Calipari and Kentucky moving forward.
For more on the win over the Bulldogs, click here.
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