Oscar Tshiebwe makes Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 Watch List
Oscar Tshiebwe‘s chances of winning back-to-back player of the year honors are alive and well.
On Monday night, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the John R. Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 Watch List on ESPN2. Tshiebwe, who was named the unanimous national player of the year in 2021-22, made the cut as one of two selections from the Southeastern Conference.
Through 19 games played this season, the Kentucky Wildcats’ big man is averaging 16.6 points and 13.7 rebounds in 32.7 minutes per game while shooting 59.0 percent from the field.
Tshiebwe won the 2021-22 Wooden Award, one of six major national player of the year recognitions, after posting per-game averages of 17.4 points and 15.2 rebounds. The last player to repeat as the Wooden Award NPOY was Virginia’s Ralph Sampson, who did it in 1981-82 and 1982-83.
Tshiebwe is currently in the running for multiple postseason awards. He was tabbed to the Naismith Men’s Defensive Player of the Year 2023 Watch List last week and is one of 50 candidates for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, which he won last year, given annually to the best player in college basketball.
But that’s not all! The former West Virginia transfer (thanks again, Bob Huggins) was voted as the Lexington Herald-Leader’s 2022 Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year by a panel of 143 media members.
While Tshiebwe’s current season hasn’t been as dominant as 2021-22, he’s still performing like one of the nation’s top players. He was recently named the SEC Player of the Week after dropping 37 points and 24 rebounds in a win over Georgia. Tshiebwe is also on pace to take home the national rebounding crown for the second straight season.
Don’t take him for granted, BBN.
Wooden Award ’22-23 Late Season Top 20 Watch List
Armando Bacot (F/C) North Carolina
Antoine Davis (G) Detroit Mercy
Kendrick Davis (G) Memphis
Zach Edey (C) Purdue
Kyle Filipowski (C) Duke
Trayce Jackson-Davis (F) Indiana
Jaime Jaquez Jr. (G/F) UCLA
Keyonate Johnson (F) Kansas State
Mike Miles Jr. (G) TCU
Brandon Miller (F) Alabama
Kris Murray (F) Iowa
Markquis Nowell (G) Kansas State
Jalen Pickett (G) Penn State
Marcus Sasser (G) Houston
Terquavion Smith (G) NC State
Drew Timme (F) Gonzaga
Oscar Tshiebwe (F) Kentucky
Azuolas Tubelis (F) Arizona
Jalen Wilson (F) Kansas
Isaiah Wong (G) Miami [FL]
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