Oscar Tshiebwe's 19-rebound performance was inspired by a young fan

Oscar Tshiebwe finished with 27 points and 19 rebounds in Kentucky’s win over Florida, just the latest dominant performance by the National Player of the Year candidate. Turns out he had one person in mind while grabbing each of those boards: a young fan, Lauren.

Lauren was a guest at Kentucky’s practice yesterday and told Oscar he’s her favorite player. In response, Oscar said he was going to get 20 rebounds vs. the Gators just for her. Even though he came up one short, I doubt she’ll mind.

This is our new friend Lauren, who hung out with us yesterday at practice and listens to every game on the radio.@Oscartshiebwe34 told her he was going to go out and get 20 rebounds for her today.

19 isn’t bad! pic.twitter.com/cxIF9CDIk5

— TJ Beisner (@tjbeisner) February 12, 2022

Oscar told reporters the story after the game.

“She came to visit and told me how I’m her favorite player and I told her, okay. Tomorrow, I’m going to go rebound for you. So that’s why I came today with a different mindset. I said, now I’ve got to rebound for her. I’m pretty sure she’ll be more than happy. I promised her 20 but I missed a couple. I think she’ll be more than happy for these 19 rebounds.”

On his radio show Wednesday night, John Calipari said he encouraged Oscar to find people to play for each night as a way to block out the clutter/noise that accompanies his National Player of the Year campaign. Cal mentioned how Michael Jordan used to dedicate games to fans in the stands each night, which helped him maintain perspective when every opponent he’d face came out with the goal of shutting him down.

Tonight, it worked. Oscar turned in his eighth 20-point game of the season and fifth game with at least 20 points and 15 rebounds. This was his seventh straight double-double, 19th of the season. His 19 rebounds are just six fewer than Florida’s total of 25. Ten of Oscar’s rebounds were on the offensive glass. He also had two assists and three steals and was second on the team behind Sahvir Wheeler in efficiency at +21. He was one board shy of a double-double in the first half alone.

“He’s been a beast,” Calipari said after the game. “The only thing, it’s kind of like Sahvir, where when he focuses on one area, Oscar’s thing, he started to get where he’s trying to score…You can’t be listening to eighth-grade coaches telling you you’ve got to get points. Just what’s your role on this team, I’m going to do it, and the biggest thing I’m going to do is fight and battle and compete and talk and do what I’m supposed to for this team.”

“I love our fans and I will do anything for them”

As has become tradition, fans lined up for Oscar’s autograph after the game. At one point, the line stretched all the way down the baseline. Oscar had to leave to join us on Zoom, but when I asked him about the fans, he vowed to go back.

“My relationship with this fanbase means a lot. They care. They came to support us. I can do anything for them. I’m just so grateful to see people cheering for you like that. It is a blessing. Anything for them, I can do it and I’m encouraging my teammates to be exactly the same. To do the same thing because these people, the way they care about us, the way they follow us everywhere, I would say it is crazy. I’ve never seen something like this in my life.

“I’m just enjoying this moment and taking advantage. Probably one day, I will be like, man, look at what happened to me at Kentucky but this is the time you’ve got to make history. You’ve got to make history with people. Make them happy, enjoy this moment. I love our fans and I will do anything for them. Probably, I’m going to go back there for 20, 15 minutes. I’ve got to make sure I sign their stuff and take pictures with those little kids.”

He did come back, by the way: