Oscar Tshiebwe a Finalist for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award

The Big O is up for another big honor. A year after taking home the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, Oscar Tshiebwe is once again a finalist for the prestigious hardware.

The honor is given to the top center in all of college basketball. First distributed by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015, Iowa’s Luka Garza is the only two-time winner. Oscar Tshiebwe took home this award (and many others) in 2021 after averaging 17.4 points and 15.1 rebounds per game.

Oscar Tshiebwe is one of five finalists for the award. He’s joined by Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton), Armando Bacot (North Carolina), Zach Edey (Purdue) and Adama Sanogo (UConn).

The Kentucky center has already earned some postseason accolades. He was tabbed First Team All-SEC by the league’s coaches and the AP. He also received third team All-American honors from the Sporting News and is a finalist for the Wooden Award and Naismith Player of the Year.

Once again, Oscar Tshiebwe is the nation’s leading rebounder, tallying 13.1 boards per game. He also is scoring a team-high 16.4 points per game. He leads the SEC with 18 double-doubles, including six games with 20+ points and 15+ rebounds.

This season he also surpassed 1,000 career points at Kentucky, the first Wildcat to reach that milestone since 2012. In only two seasons he ranks in the top ten in rebounding in school history. Tshiebwe currently ranks eighth with 894 rebounds, only 16 behind Chuck Hayes.