Force-feeding Oscar Tshiebwe saved Kentucky's offense against Yale

In the first half of Saturday’s home game against Yale, Kentucky’s reigning national player of the year, Oscar Tshiebwe, only had six points on six shot attempts. He played 18 out of a possible 20 minutes, but struggled to receive the ball in positions that would lead him to easy baskets. A large reason why had to do with a simple lack of his teammates getting him the ball on a more consistent basis. During halftime against the Bulldogs, Tshiebwe had one message for everyone else.

Give me the ball.

“We came into the locker room, I told them feed me inside, feed my inside,” Tshiebwe said postgame. “I don’t think their big man can guard me. We actually came back and Coach ran some plays, threw me the ball. Coach would say stop looking for passing — finish, finish.”

And finishing is what he did. Tshiebwe touched the ball on almost every second-half offensive possession for the ‘Cats. He went on to score 22 (on 9-13 shooting) of Kentucky’s 36 points after the intermission, powering his team to a 69-59 win over Yale. Tshiebwe was shedding double- and triple-teams in the paint for easy layups and even knocked down an open mid-range jumper.

Tshiebwe was absolutely right — Yale’s big men had no chance at defending his array of post moves on the block. Both Tshiebwe and head coach John Calipari were pleading for Kentucky’s best player to touch the ball as much as possible after halftime, with Calipari demanding more from his star player.

“When he had shots, he was passing them,” Calipari said of Tshiebwe. “Score the ball, they can’t guard you. I told the other guys, again, we have to throw him the ball. You’re driving and he is in the middle wide open, throw him the ball.”

Sometimes, especially against an inferior opponent, there’s no reason to make things more complicated than they need to be. The offense sputtered for Kentucky toward the end of the first half as Tshiebwe’s involvement waned. The easiest and most obvious solution was to put the ball in the hands of the best player on the court.

“Sometimes you gotta be reminded of who you’re playing with,” Kentucky point guard Sahvir Wheeler said after the win. “And Oscar did that.”

Tshiebwe finished his day with another jaw-dropping stat line: 28 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, two steals, two blocks, and zero turnovers on 13-18 shooting in 38 minutes played. It was his fifth double-double of the year and resulted in him winning the Most Impactful Player belt for the second time this season.

When you finish with 28 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, you get the Most Impactful Player belt pic.twitter.com/je29lizsdI

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) December 10, 2022

It sounds obvious when said out loud, but good things tend to happen when Kentucky’s offense revolves around the nation’s best player. Tshiebwe also showed a tendency to find his teammates when Yale brought too much help. More often than not, he still found a way to force the ball into the hoop, but his playmaking from out of the post took a step in the right direction on Saturday.

“You gotta decide what you’re gonna do. Are you gonna let Oscar score every time or are you gonna let the guys who can make some shots, make shots?” Wheeler asked. “And it’s a hard thing to — it’s pick your poison almost. I think the first half it took us a minute to realize that but once we got it going, he got it going and we kept throwing it to him and kinda catapulted our offense and he made some explosive plays.

“Tonight it was Oscar’s night, and he got it done.”