Oscar Tshiebwe "locked in" on title dreams as Senior Night approaches

If Kentucky center Oscar Tshiebwe had individual accolades in mind, he would have had no reason to return for his senior season in Lexington. Shattering countless records while earning every national and conference player of the year award available for the taking, there was nothing left to accomplish for himself personally.

As a team, though, Tshiebwe had everything left to accomplish with the Wildcats. Knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by No. 15 seed St. Peter’s last March, Kentucky’s postseason was over before it even started. His season of historic personal domination closed with unprecedented failure as a collective unit. He returned to rewrite the story, set on adding a part two with a fairytale ending rather than a horror.

The start, unfortunately, was closer to the latter. Kentucky began the year 10-6 overall and 1-3 in SEC play, then later found itself at 16-9 overall, in danger of making the tournament completely. John Calipari continued to stress patience, but time was running out with just six games to go in the regular season.

Tshiebwe will be the first to admit he had his concerns as the adversities piled up.

“I felt that. Felt a lot of trials, went through many things,” he said Tuesday. “I was like, ‘God, I thought I was going to come back and have fun?'”

His faith, though, remained. He stressed after the team’s loss at Georgia that a special finish was still on the table if the fight picked up. The numbers and analytics certainly didn’t favor the Wildcats, but it wasn’t impossible — some quality wins to close out the schedule would give them a shot to get back in the conversation. Tshiebwe knew there had to be a return on the investment at some point, a reward for the tribulations that continued to limit this team from reaching its goals dating back to last season.

“They always say it’s better to start bad and finish good. We started really bad,” Tshiebwe said. “Some people had no hope. Some people think, ‘It’s over for Kentucky.’ … In the Bible, He led them through a lot of things so they can learn and experience the blessings God is going to open up for them. That’s for us too. We had to go through all these things.”

And then, a run. 71-68 win at Mississippi State, 66-54 win vs. No. 10 Tennessee, 82-74 win at Florida — all Quad 1 victories — followed by a statement 86-54 win over Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers, inarguably the most complete performance of the year for the Wildcats. Now with just two games left in the regular season, Kentucky is not just back in the NCAA Tournament conversation, but a team no one wants to face in March.

The valid concerns surrounding this team have fallen by the wayside. Shot-takers have become shot-makers, a clear lead guard has emerged, the four spot is no longer a weakness, roles and the rotation have been finalized and defense is picking up. Clear growth is taking place across the board.

The rewards are slowly coming together.

“(The trials came) so Chris (Livingston) could learn to be stronger, Cason (Wallace) and all these boys, the freshmen, they can learn to win. Now they know,” Tshiebwe said. “If you mess around out there, it’s so easy to lose a game. Everybody is now coming in knowing it’s not fun to lose, it’s more fun to win. It’s better for me to do bad, but we win, because everybody is happy. Instead of me coming in and getting 50 (points) and 30 (rebounds) and we lose. That means nothing, coming in the locker room and everybody being sad.

“What we went through, it gave us more experience. We’ve developed confidence and now we’re just playing. We know nothing comes easy, and we’re going to continue like that.”

One more win will lock up the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament while an outside shot remains at the No. 2 — Texas A&M must lose out while Kentucky wins out. The Wildcats were a No. 6 seed in ESPN’s latest Bracketology — in the South Region (Louisville), no less — and the top No. 7 seed on Bracket Matrix, a compilation of all 97 bracket breakdowns on the internet. They’re ranked as high as a No. 5 seed on Team Rankings, while BartTorvik has set the Cats’ seed at 4.8.

What a difference two weeks make.

“For us, it was good. We learned how to win,” Tshiebwe said of the early setbacks. “Now we know every game we play, for us, it’s the Super Bowl. Like Coach (Cal) says, we have nothing to lose. And we have to choose not to lose anymore. … Everybody refuses to lose. We’re just focusing on that.”

The dreams he had when he announced his decision to return to Kentucky now feel within reach for the first time all season. There’s still plenty of business to take care of — “We’re going to be locked in for the game tomorrow and try to finish up, a lot of work left to do this year,” he added — but it’s still a relief to be back on track. The confidence is very real that some magic is back on the table in March.

“My dream was to win a national championship. Right now, I’ve got so much confidence,” Tshiebwe said. “My boys (are) taking rebounds from my hands, I’ve got Chris (Livingston) and Jacob competing with me for rebounds [laughs]. Everybody is making shots. We stay locked in and we communicate. And I can see this team — I can’t say too much, but I can see this team go far.

“Some teams (are) probably gonna be scared because we’re going to be a little bit of a higher seed. We’re going to play some good teams. For me, I say, ‘Be ready.’ We’re coming to die because we refuse to lose. … We’re here. We’re going to keep fighting.”

Tshiebwe knows it’s going to be an emotional moment bursting through that paper hoop on Senior Night prior to the team’s home matchup vs. Vanderbilt. He’s still in disbelief he’s in this position, set to play what is expected to be his final home game inside Rupp Arena.

“I still can’t believe how fast these four years flew by,” he said. “It seems like just yesterday I was a freshman.”

But again, that’s an individual honor commemorating his two-and-a-half years in Lexington. Special, sure — the pleasant memories are endless — but that’s not what he wants to be remembered for. Those moments haven’t happened quite yet, Tshiebwe hopes.

“I want to be known as someone who came in and fought to help this school win a championship,” he said. “I want to be known as someone who brought light to the people who needed light.”

For fellow senior Jacob Toppin, he’s been that person, at least for the latter.

“He’s not worried about all the accolades or accomplishments, he’s just worried about what he needs to do for this team to win. That’s what he’s been doing,” he said. “… We’re glad to have him, honored to have him. I’m happy I can call him my teammate.”

Tshiebwe hopes the former will come this March.

“We’ve got a lot of work left we’ve got to do this year to take this team where we want to go.”