Oscar Tshiebwe named Naismith Trophy Player of the Week

Add another accolade to Kentucky’s big week. Oscar Tshiebwe won Naismith Trophy Player of the Week for his performances in Kentucky’s wins over Mississippi State and Kansas.

The big man averaged 19 points, 18 rebounds, and 3.5 steals over the two games, finishing with double-doubles in each. In Tuesday’s win over Mississippi State, Oscar had 21 points and 22 rebounds, the first 20-20 game by a Kentucky Wildcat since Mike Phillips in 1976. He followed it up by scoring 17 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in the Cats’ dominant showing at Kansas.

🚨 This week’s @jerseymikes Naismith Trophy Player of the Week is @Oscartshiebwe34 of @KentuckyMBB 🚨

Tshiebwe averaged 19 pts, 18 reb, and 3.5 stl and posted double-doubles in 2️⃣ consecutive games, both wins for @KentuckyMBB ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/gkHn5THC0G

— The Naismith Trophy (@NaismithTrophy) January 31, 2022

Oscar for National Player of the Year

Oscar’s case for the real Naismith Trophy continues to grow stronger. He leads the country in rebounds per game (15.1), offensive rebounds per game (5.1), offensive rebounding percentage (20.1%), and defensive rebound percentage (36.5%). He also leads Kentucky in scoring with 16.3 points per game and is shooting 61.5% from the floor, which ranks ninth nationally. Oscar is on pace to become the first Div. I player to average at least 15.0 points per game and at least 15.0 rebounds per game since Drake’s Lewis Lloyd and Alcorn State’s Larry Smith each did during the 1979-80 season. His five 20+ rebound games tie Blake Griffin and Tim Duncan for the most by a major-conference player since 1996-97. Only one other player in the country has at least two such games.

Oscar is on the watch lists for the Wooden Award, the Lute Olson Award, and the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award. Andy Katz has him atop Tier 1 in his Player of the Year rankings for Fox Sports. Oscar is No. 1 in KenPom’s Player of the Year standings, holding a sizeable lead over Ohio State’s EJ Liddell:

Dick Vitale also named Oscar his National Player of the Week yesterday. In case you missed it earlier today, Keion Brooks won SEC Player of the Week for his career performance at Kansas. The fact that the Cats have the league Player of the Week and the National Player of the Week and they’re two different people speaks volumes as to the roll they’re on.

I’ll leave you with Oscar’s highlights from the week and a picture of him looking like a superhero: