Mike White marvels at Kentucky big Oscar Tshiebwe's performance vs. Georgia

Basketball is a team sport but when you have the reining player of the year, sometimes that team sport can turn into a one-man show. Just ask Georgia after trying to defend Kentucky big Oscar Tshiebwe.

In an 85-71 loss, Georgia had no answers for the rebounding machine. Tshiebwe finished with 37 points and 24 rebounds, dominating from start to finish.

“We’re better than that. We just are,” Georgia coach Mike White said after the game. “We’ve played better than that this year, and I anticipate us playing better moving forward for sure. That said, great players rise to the occasion and we just didn’t match it.”

Both Tshiebwe’s scoring and rebounding figures were season highs, topping his previous scoring best of 28 points and his previous rebounding best of 19 boards.

White had nothing but positive things to say about Kentucky big Oscar Tshiebwe after the game.

“He plays so hard. He’s got such strong hands,” White said. “I thought that they were; my gosh, he got 24 rebounds. Wow. I thought being right there court level that there were 10 of those where we had a hand or two with at least one guy on the basketball and he came up with them. So there were possessions where we really did fight and try, but I just think over the course of 40 he imposed his will and we gave in.”

Georgia basketball team honors football player, recruiting staffer

Prior to Kentucky big Oscar Tshiebwe putting on a show on Tuesday night, tragedy struck the University and Georgia and the Georgia athletic department over the weekend as a football player and recruiting staffer were killed in a single-car crash. Offensive lineman Devin Willock and staffer Chandler LeCroy both died.

To honor them on Tuesday night against Kentucky and for the rest of the season, the Georgia men’s basketball team wore a patch to memorialize them. Forward Jabri Abdur-Rahim explained why to his teammates in a short video posted by Georgia men’s basketball.

“We just, me and coach White came up with the idea to put a patch on the jersey to memorialize them in the game tonight and, I think, moving forward,” Abdur-Rahim said. “So, you guys will join me in wearing this patch just to remember them. [Devin] was my friend and me and Kario [Oquendo] kind of knew him. Obviously the university is going through something right now. So just to kind of show our support and memorialize him and show support for his family, we’re going to do this tonight and going forward.”