Oscar Tshiebwe flexes impressive offensive skills against Notre Dame

Kentucky couldn’t count on its outside shooting against Notre Dame, but it sure could count on Oscar Tshiebwe. Without the 6-foot-9, 255-pound mountain of a human, the Wildcats likely lose to the Fighting Irish by 15-plus instead of the 66-62 final score.

In UK’s first true road game of the 2021-22 season, Tshiebwe played arguably his best offensive game of the year; which is saying something, considering he’s been a KenPom top 10 National Player of the Year candidate since the opener (he’s ranked No. 6 as of Sunday night). Through nine games this season, he’s averaging Wildcat-highs with 16.3 points and 14.4 rebounds per outing while shooting 67.8 percent from the floor. The junior big man treated the Notre Dame frontcourt as if they were a mere pebble in his determined path to greatness.

Tshiebwe bulldozed the Irish for a career-high 25 points on an elite shooting clip of 11-14. While it was the first time this season he failed to haul in at least 10 rebounds–finishing with seven–there wasn’t a single thing ND could do to prevent him from scoring at the rim. The former West Virginia Mountaineer also added three steals and two blocks to his tally while recording just one foul. These weren’t your run-of-the-mill steals either. Tshiebwe would allow an offensive player to post him up before baiting the interior passer into the perfect angle for a steal and subsequent fastbreak opportunity.

Through the opening 20 minutes, Thsiebwe was already up to 12 points and six boards on 6-7 shooting. Out of the halftime break, he poured in another 10 points in roughly 10 minutes. Unfortunately, Kentucky’s ball handlers struggled to feed him the rock down the stretch, which contributed to UK’s ultimate downfall.

“We’ve got to learn, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Oscar was down there killing it,” UK forward Keion Brooks Jr. said postgame. “There were times when we had opportunities to post him. Even myself, drove in there when I could have just thrown him the ball and he would have scored like he was doing all night.”

The way Tshiebwe was dominating the Notre Dame big men was almost humiliating for them. He was doing it through baby hooks, vicious dunks, free-throws thanks to shots at the rim, mid-range jumpers, all of it. Up until Saturday night, it would be fair to say that Tshiebwe didn’t show even half of what he executed against ND. He was in his bag, as they say–dazzling with multiple post moves while flexing an unseen mean streak. Every shot oozed confidence.

From the outside looking in, what Tshiebwe did against the Irish wasn’t something anyone truly knew he was capable of. But in reality, he’s been busting his butt to add to his offensive game.

“We spend a lot of time in the gym working on it and you see the results,” Tshiebwe said of his post scoring after Saturday’s game. “It is something before practice that I have like 30, 40 minutes with Coach Orlando (Antigua) getting the hook shots. Like Coach said, we need to post the basketball. That’s why I practice a lot, focus a lot on getting those buckets.”

Tshiebwe’s performance against Notre Dame alone should shoot him up NBA Draft boards. His motor, frame, and strength were never in question with him; it’s always been about his offensive skillset and rim-protecting abilities at the next level. The question regarding the former is being answered right in front of us–and with authority.

While he always tends to step up during high-profile matchups, the focus on him is going to increase. Tshiebwe will start to see different defensive schemes lobbed his way every game. How he responds to that challenge will play a major impact on the ceiling of this Kentucky squad. So far, he’s tackling it head-on. Now his teammates have to step up with him.