Arkansas hoping to match "tenacious, relentless" energy of Oscar Tshiebwe

Arkansas has a 6-foot-9, 265-pound problem on its hands this week in Lexington, and his name is Oscar Tshiebwe.

College basketball’s reigning national player of the year went for 30 points on three occasions last season and pulled down 18 rebounds seven different times. During Kentucky‘s trip to Fayetteville, Tshiebwe hit both of those marks, going for 30 and 18 to go with three blocks, two assists and one steal while shooting 13-21 from the field and 4-7 from the line.

In a season of dominant performances, his lone battle against the Razorbacks was among his best. And though he’s not putting up the same numbers he did a year ago, Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman isn’t afraid to admit Tshiebwe is at the top of his team’s scouting report going into Tuesday night’s matchup.

“Obviously, we’ve got to box out Tshiebwe,” Musselman said following his team’s win at South Carolina on Saturday. “… The biggest thing is he plays volleyball with offensive rebounds. He’s so quick off his feet. And he draws fouls around the rim, all those things. Defensively, he’s got good anticipation. He’s a high-steal player for his position, he blocks shots on the defensive end. He’s just tenacious, relentless on the glass, so you’ve got to match that energy.”

Tshiebwe is Kentucky’s leading scorer (15.9 PPG) and rebounder (13.6 RPG), but he’s not the only threat on the team, especially as of late. The Wildcats have won six straight games in the SEC, and a big reason for that is the all-around effort they’ve had across the board. In each of those wins, at least three players have scored in double figures and three have led the team in scoring.

A one-dimensional team at times with the 6-foot-9 center early on, UK has found a way to get the most out of the rest of its roster as of late.

“They have a great freshman in (Cason) Wallace, who does a great job on both sides of the ball. One of the best defenders in the country,” Musselman said. “C.J. Fredrick is a guy that can really rope threes. He stretches the defense out. (Sahvir) Wheeler for them at the point guard spot, he’s got great speed and does an excellent job getting their team in their offense. And then (Jacob) Toppin is a guy that has a really good mid-range pull-up game and he’s an excellent defender, excellent offensive rebounder. He kind of flies in from the weakside on the offensive board. So a lot of things that we’ve got to get ready for in regards to Kentucky.”

And that’s not even accounting for the player who has led the Wildcats in scoring four of those six consecutive SEC wins, Antonio Reeves.

When asked about the Illinois State transfer, Musselman raved about his ability to hit shots, specifically in transition. With shots finally starting to fall again for Fredrick, Arkansas has a real challenge coming on the perimeter.

“Reeves is a great scorer. He’s obviously a transfer out of the portal, can really shoot the ball,” he said. “You’ve got to ID him as soon as he crosses halfcourt, he’s a really good transition three-ball shooter. He and Fredrick both stretch the defense out because of their ability to score the basketball. He can get really hot as a streaky shooter, a guy that was a focal point offensively at his prior university, a go-to guy prior to coming to Kentucky.

“Now he’s kind of evolved into a guy that they need points from. So obviously guarding Reeves will be extremely important, as well.”

Arkansas is loaded with talent and presents a difficult challenge for Kentucky — John Calipari raved about the Razorbacks’ guard play and physical toughness on Monday — but make no mistake about it, the Wildcats are tough too. Both teams are playing well as of late, entering the matchup on winning streaks in the SEC.

Time to see which team will rise to the occasion.