Can Oscar Tshiebwe Flip the Script vs Tolu Smith?

Not since the Harrison Twins announced their return for the 2014-15 season has a Kentucky basketball player received as much fanfare as Oscar Tshiebwe when the National Player of the Year decided to run it back for the 2022-23 season. The first college basketball player to average better than 17 points and 15 rebounds per game in 40 years, few expected him to replicate that production, but the dip has felt more dramatic in SEC play.

Tshiebwe is still cleaning the glass better than anyone in college basketball, tallying 13.3 per game. He also posted an historic 37 points and 24 rebounds in a win over Georgia at Rupp Arena. Still, Oscar Tshiebwe is not been the same Oscar Tshiebwe and it’s for a variety of reasons.

First and foremost, the Wildcats do not have enough shooters on the perimeter to give him space to operate, playing at full strength in just 13 of 25 games this season (with CJ Fredrick accounting for many of those absences thanks to a pair of injuries). Secondly, SEC opponents have figured out the best way to attack the Kentucky center: make him defend the pick-and-roll and attack him early to get him flustered.

It’s not just scheme that’s forced Tshiebwe to struggle. He’s only 6-foot-9. Many of his opponents have length to shoot over him and alter his shots once he gets the ball into the post. So far the best bigs in the SEC have gotten his number.

• vs. Florida’s Colin Castleton: 2/14, 4 points, 15 rebounds
• vs. Arkansas’ Mitchell brothers: 7 points, 7 rebounds
• vs. Alabama’s Clowney and Bediako, 1/7, 4 points, 6 rebounds

When scanning through the SEC’s rebounding and blocked shot leaderboards, Auburn’s Johni Broome, Vanderbilt’s Liam Robbins and Mississippi State’s Tolu Smith are the only foes Tshiebwe has yet to face. Tonight the Kentucky center will be tested by the 6-foot-10 Smith, who is second only Tshiebwe in the conference in career double-doubles. Not only will Smith’s length pose a problem, the Bulldogs have a defense that ranks in the Top 20 in two-point field goal percentage, turnover percentage and overall defensive efficiency.

Oscar Tshiebwe appeared to snap out of a mental funk with 20 points and 14 rebounds against Georgia. That will be a much more challenging task in Starkville. For Kentucky to leave with a win and keep John Calipari’s record at Mississippi State unblemished, he’ll have to be at his best against Tolu Smith and Co.