Another matchup against Georgia is exactly what Oscar Tshiebwe needs
The last time Oscar Tshiebwe took on the Georgia Bulldogs, he played one of his best outings as a Kentucky Wildcat: 37 points, 24 rebounds, and three steals on 12-20 shooting from the field and a 13-18 mark from the free throw line. He played 39 minutes in that game, an 85-71 victory for his squad. But ever since then, the reigning national player of the year has looked like a shell of himself and no one can quite figure out why.
In the six games since smacking the Bulldogs at Rupp Arena, Tshiebwe has struggled on both ends of the floor. He’s constantly missing clean shots at the rim, getting abused in the pick-and-roll (even more so than usual), and throwing his hands up in the air after every defensive breakdown or questionable foul call. He’s played frustrated and as if he’s under a microscope.
The 6-foot-9 senior forward has averaged just 10.8 points and 12.0 rebounds per game on 46.3 percent shooting since beating Georgia — impressive numbers for 95 percent of the college basketball world, but a troublesome trend for Kentucky’s best player.
That first matchup against Georgia was on Jan. 17. Nearly one month later on Saturday when the two teams meet again, this time in Athens, Tshiebwe needs to go out and dominate — Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament chances hinge on it.
“The game is 90% mental and right now it’s mental for (Tshiebwe),” Kentucky senior forward Jacob Toppin told reporters on Friday. “We all know what he can do on the court and how effective he can be. But at times when he catches the ball or things aren’t going his way, it messes with his mind and I try to take him out of that and help him understand that it’s okay. You’re not going to have a good game every game. You were a National Player of the Year and you’ve had many games that you were really great at. If you have two bad games, it’s not the end of the world. I tell him that every day.”
Kentucky has posted a 4-2 record since blowing out Georgia by 14 points but has not gained any ground in terms of beefing up its postseason resume. While Tshiebwe still finds ways to impact the game on the glass (he recorded double-digit rebounding games in four of the six previous contests), he appears to have lost the silky touch around the rim he once possessed. He went for seven points on 3-5 shooting against Texas A&M, four against Florida on a 2-14 clip, and a mere seven on 3-6 shooting against Arkansas.
But for a player as talented and historically special as Tshiebwe, it’s hard to believe he suddenly woke up one morning and forgot all the skills that made him such a threat in the first place. As Toppin mentioned, the mental aspect can weigh heavily on a player when there is so much pressure to perform at a high level.
Getting picked on in the pick-and-roll every time down the floor certainly doesn’t help a player’s confidence. Tshiebwe is also third in the SEC in time played, per KenPom, soaking up 88.2 percent of individual minutes each game. The next-highest player on the list for Kentucky is Toppin at 24th, who plays 71.8 percent of the allotted minutes. No other Wildcat is above 66 percent.
Tshiebwe has played at least 37 minutes nine times this season, including three games (all against SEC opponents) where he never once left the floor. Eventually, even for top-tier athletes, that begins to catch up to you, which can be especially true if you’re coming off knee surgery just a few months back.
“Yesterday he was in a good mindset,” Toppin said. “We’re prepared for him to have a big night against Georgia because he has a good mindset right now and he’s been in the gym working on what he needs to work on, staying assignment sound on the defensive end in ball screen coverage because we all know that teams are taking advantage of him right now and he’s taken that personally. He’s going to get better at ball screen coverage but it’s not just him. It’s the guards fighting over screens, it’s us on the back side helping out on weak side defense. We’re excited to see what he’s going to do because we know the type of player he’s capable of being. I’m excited to see what he’s gonna do tomorrow.“
Tshiebwe is set up to have a monster game against Georgia on Saturday at noon EST. The Bulldogs are the worst team remaining on Kentucky’s regular-season schedule and have been particularly bad since losing to the ‘Cats the first time around. Including that defeat in Lexington a few weeks ago, Georgia has gone 1-6, with the lone victory coming in overtime against South Carolina, which has just one win out of 11 tries against conference opponents this season (the one being Kentucky, oddly enough).
The stars are aligning perfectly for Tshiebwe to hit his groove once again. The timing of it also couldn’t be better for a Kentucky team in desperate need of some momentum with seven games until the SEC Tournament.
“On to the next game,” Antonio Reeves said. “We talked to (Tshiebwe). ‘You’re straight. You’re fine. Just do what you need to do out there. Don’t worry about those bad games.’ He’s fine. I believe he’s in a good mental space right now and he’s connected with us still.”
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