John Calipari details conversations regarding Oscar Tshiebwe's return to Kentucky

Oscar Tshiebwe put together a standout season for Kentucky in 2021-22 and caught much attention across the college basketball landscape. After averaging 17.4 points and 15.1 rebounds per game for the Wildcats a season ago, Tshiebwe had the option to either enter his name into the 2022 NBA Draft or return to Lexington to play another season with UK.

After taking the time to weigh his options, Tshiebwe ultimately made the decision to return to Kentucky for another season, announcing the news live on ESPN’s SportsCenter earlier this week. While Tshiebwe made it clear that he has unfinished business with the Wildcats and also wants to be a future NBA lottery pick, Kentucky head coach John Calipari has now shared the detailed conversations he had with his forward.

Joining ESPN Radio Louisville’s SportsTalk with Dan Issel and Mike Pratt show on Friday morning, Calipari broke down what went into Tshiebwe’s decision to return to Kentucky and hold off on the NBA.

“He had to go through a process,” Calipari said of Tshiebwe. “Like Kellan [Grady] and all these kids, they loved it last year. They had a ball. And Oscar said, ‘I had more fun playing basketball than I’ve had – like, ever. … And I got better.’ So, he says unfinished business. The one thing he said was I’ve got to pray to God – the kid’s authentic now, he’s just authentic. So, I knew what he was saying. I said, ‘When you pray, you can’t say, ‘God, please influence me to leave.’ That’s not a good prayer. … You can’t say it that way.’

“When he hit me back, he said, ‘I asked God why did I win every award, do all that I did and not be a lottery pick?’ And he said, ‘The answer I got back was ’cause you’ve got unfinished business.’ Could you imagine? He talked to his mother. Now, there were people in his ear trying to get him to leave anyway – up until the end, until he sat in that chair to say ‘I’m doing this.’ He did a video – according to our people – the week before that said I’m coming back, then another video that said that I was leaving, in case he changed his mind.”

Tshiebwe ultimately didn’t change his mind and announced that he would be coming back to play another season with the Wildcats, looking to have another stellar year at the collegiate level.

“It was him saying, ‘I want to come back, win a championship, and I want to come back and be a lottery pick,'” Calipari said. “And I said, ‘Alright, I like those two things. Let’s go for them.'”