The Most Underrated Aspect of Oscar Tshiebwe's Game

Oscar Tshiebwe is Superman. Instead of a red cape, he wears a No. 34 Kentucky basketball jersey. Like all of us, even Superman has a bad day from time to time. What makes Tshiebwe an out of this world talent is that even during his low-points, he finds ways to help the Wildcats win.

What You Know About Oscar

Night in, night out, we watch Oscar Tshiebwe grab rebounds. As Jimmy Dykes so eloquently put it, “His oxygen is rebounding the basketball.” The nation’s leading rebounder (15.2 per game) is the most prolific the sport has seen at the Power Five level in at least a decade, which is why he is the Vegas favorite to win National Player of the Year.

Offensively, Oscar is not always “on.” Even though he leads the SEC in field goal shooting percentage and has recorded double-doubles in consecutive games, last week he made just 6-of-18 shots. While he struggles on offense, he makes up for it on defense (and not just by corralling missed shots).

Sticky Fingers

Even though I called him Superman, he’s more like Spider-Man. In six of the last seven games Tshiebwe has at least three steals, including three-straight games with four takeaways. For the season he has 1.91 steals per game, ranking sixth in the SEC and 59th nationally. Oscar steals a pass on 3.59% of his defensive possessions.

There’s a common sentiment across the BBN that in order to have a top-shelf defense, you need your big man to be a rim protector. After watching Anthony Davis and Willie Cauley-Stein swat UK in the Final Four, the logic checks out. Oscar Tshiebwe is not a rim protector, but he’s making a similar impact on the Kentucky defense by creating turnovers with steals instead of blocked shots.