Updating Oscar Tshiebwe, Sahvir Wheeler's Quest to Break Records (BTI's R&Rs)

So much focus has been on Oscar Tshiebwe and his amazing rebounding and overall play that we tend to forget Sahvir Wheeler is still on pace to break the school’s single-season assist record as well. I have updated this post a few times now and fully expected both guys to come back to the pack. They haven’t.

I updated this list after 13 games and will continue to do so throughout the season. For rebounds, the list you see is the MODERN (post-1986) single-season record while assists are the overall school record.

SINGLE SEASON REBOUNDS

*Through 21 games
Oscar Tshiebwe: 317 rebounds
Julius Randle: 213 rebounds (finished with 417)
Anthony Davis: 217 rebounds (finished with 415)
Demarcus Cousins: 203 rebounds (finished with 375)

The pace that Oscar set right from the beginning of the season was almost unbelievable. And then he has only demolished that pace as the season has worn on. I thought, like many, that once the competition stiffened up Oscar would start decreasing in rebounds. In some ways, he’s only gotten better. Barring injury, he is going to set the modern rebounding record by a whole bunch. The question now is the overall school record.

Bill Spivey holds the overall single-season record for rebounds, with 567. Assuming this UK team plays 35 games, that would require Oscar to average 16.2 rebounds per game for the season to reach that number. He is currently at 15.1 rebounds per game. If, by chance, UK makes the SEC and NCAA finals, meaning UK plays 40 games, he would need to average 14.1 rebounds per game for the season. So, in many ways, Oscar’s attempt to break what was thought of as an unbreakable record depends on just how good this team can be.

SINGLE SEASON ASSISTS

*Through 21 games
Sahvir Wheeler: 132 assists
Tyler Ulis: 129 assists (finished with 246)
John Wall: 142 assists (finished with 241)
Roger Harden: 145 assists (finished with 232)
Travis Ford: 128 assists (finished with 193)
Anthony Epps: 97 assists (finished with 193)

While Sahvir is behind the pace of both Wall and Harden through 21 games, he is actually AHEAD of the pace set by Tyler Ulis, who is the record holder. It’s hard to say which way this record could go because of the way Sahvir is now being used. Some games, like Kansas, it felt he was in control of the point much of the game. Some games TyTy Washington has taken some of the point guard duties. Obviously, injuries have been a factor for him as well. If Sahvir plays well enough to threaten the Ulis record, then I think that means UK is doing quite well as a team.