Oscar Tshiebwe is Kentucky's Ninth Two-Time Consensus All-American

Oscar Tshiebwe is in rarified air.

It’s a similar refrain. Oscar Tshiebwe is the first Kentucky Wildcat to blah blah blah in 40 years. Last year he was the first D-I player in 42 years to average 17+ points and 15+ rebounds per game. This year he had a 35/20 game against Georgia, the first by a Wildcat since 1976. Well, he’s done it again.

Wednesday afternoon the United States Basketball Writers of America named the Kentucky center a Second Team All-American. It’s the fourth All-American honor by a major organization this offseason. That means Oscar Tshiebwe is only the ninth two-time Consensus All-American in the history of Kentucky basketball. Kenny Walker was the last to accomplish the feat, back in 1985-86. The elite company Oscar is joining:

• Forest Sale (1932, 33)
• Ralph Beard (1947, 48, 49)
• Alex Groza (1947, 48, 49)
• Cliff Hagan (1952, 54)
• Cotton Nash (1962, 63, 64)
• Louie Dampier (1966, 67)
• Dan Issel (1969, 70)
• Kenny Walker (1985, 86)

The Oscar Tshiebwe experience has only happened once at Kentucky in the last 53 years. Remarkable.

This year he became the 24th two-time All-American at Kentucky by once again cleaning the glass better than any other player in college basketball. He led the nation in rebounding with 13.1 per game. He also is the Cats’ leading scorer tallying 16.5 per contest.

Tshiebwe now ranks third in school history in double-doubles with 47. Two more and he’ll move past Cotton Nash in second place. He’s two rebounds away from surpassing Chuck Hayes and moving into seventh place on the school’s all-time rebounds list. A few other notable accomplishments from his two seasons in Lexington:

— Only one player (Bill Spivey – 1,213) has scored more points in just two seasons than Tshiebwe (1,084). Tshiebwe ranks 49th overall in scoring history in program history.

— He has amassed seven games of at least 20 rebounds as a Wildcat. All UK players combined since the 1970-71 season have totaled seven such games.

— At Florida this season, Tshiebwe connected on 12 of 13 (92.3%) of his shots from the floor. That’s the best field-goal clip with the most attempts in program history.

Oscar Tshiebwe has done things at Kentucky we may never see again. Now it’s his turn to leave a lasting legacy by performing when it matters most, March.