LOOK: Oscar Tshiebwe takes photo with his numerous college basketball awards

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater06/20/22

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Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe had one of the more decorated seasons in recent college basketball history. During his junior season in Lexington, Tshiebwe averaged 17.4 and 15.2 rebounds a game. His efforts helped the Wildcats to a 26-8 season and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

His season-long performance earned him a ton of college basketball’s biggest awards. Now, ‘Big ‘O’ is just showing off.

In the Wildcat program’s latest post, Tshiebwe can be seen amongst all the hardware he collected during his 2021-2022 campaign.

Among them are his six National Player of the Year awards. Tshiebwe was the first player in Kentucky and SEC history to be named Consensus Player of the Year. That honor naturally led to his unanimous selection as a Consensus First-Team All-American.

The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award was also included. That specific award comes from the Basketball Hall of Fame and is given to the nation’s best center. Finally, you can see Tshiebwe’s handful of SEC awards. He was selected as SEC Player of the Year and was named First-Team All-SEC. Tshiebwe was also named to the All-SEC Defensive Team after averaging 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks

If Tshiebwe has a season even remotely as successful as last year, he’ll need a much bigger trophy case. While repeating as the winner any of these awards would be an honor for him, Tshiebwe has another trophy in mind for his senior season. After being upset in March Madness, his next goal will be to add a Kentucky national championship trophy to his resume.

LOOK: Oscar Tshiebwe makes return to Kentucky basketball after Congo trip

The Kentucky basketball team had slowly come back together over the last week heading into their summer workouts. The major absence thus far had been reigning National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe, who returned home to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of today, the final piece of the Wildcats roster is back in the bluegrass.

Tshiebwe had a dominant junior season after transferring to Lexington from West Virginia. He finished with averages of 17.4 points and 15.1 rebounds. With those numbers, Tshiebwe ended the season with 28 double-doubles. His efforts helped Kentucky earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament before an upset loss to Saint Peter’s.

Tshiebwe explored the potential of entering the NBA Draft but ultimately decided to return to UK for a senior season. He’s the first Wooden Award winner to return to college since Tyler Hansbrough for North Carolina in 2008.

With Tshiebwe back in the U.S., the Wildcats can get their offseason workouts underway. All of it will be in preparation for their foreign trip to the Bahamas in August.

This will be the Wildcats third such trip down to the Bahamas. They went before the 2014-2015 season where they finished 38-1 and before their 2018-2019 where they made a run to the Elite Eight.

“I know our fans are excited as we once again make a trip to The Bahamas,” said John Calipari in their announcement. “This has always been a memorable trip for our teams and our fans. It has always given us a springboard heading into the season. These games will be a challenge for us and will allow us to grow and see where we are at this point.

Full information for Kentucky’s foreign trip can be found at their trip site.