Oscar Tshiebwe takes home Naismith Trophy for Player of the Year

The Naismith Trophy is arguably the most highly-regarded of the many national player of the year awards. Oscar Tshiebwe became just the second Wildcat ever to receive the honor.

On Sunday afternoon, Tshiebwe was gifted the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy for Men’s Player of the Year — which is presented to the nation’s top overall player — by the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. He joins Anthony Davis in 2012 as the only other Kentucky player to ever win the award and the third under head coach John Calipari, joining UMass’s Marcus Camby (1996).

Tshiebwe has now won five of the six major national player of the year awards, joining recognition from The Sporting News, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, The Associated Press, and the United States Basketball Writers Association. The only one yet to be announced is from the Wooden Award.

“Thank you very much for the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy,” Tshiebwe said, according to the press release. “I am very excited. First off, I want to thank God. Second, I want to thank my family for supporting everything I do. Thirdly, I want to thank my coaches, especially Coach Cal. I am really grateful to be here. Thank you to the Naismith Awards for picking me. Thank you to my teammates, coaches and staff for helping me and pushing me.”

Auburn center Walker Kessler took home Defensive Player of the Year honors while Providence head coach Ed Cooley was named Coach of the Year. Tshiebwe beat out Ochai Agbaji (Kansas), Johnny Davis (Wisconsin), and Keegan Murray (Iowa) for the overall player of the year award.

Tshiebwe finished the year averaging 17.4 points and 15.1 rebounds per contest. He posted 25 double-doubles, second-most nationally. And he also led his team in steals and blocks, being the only major conference player to average at least 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game.

Below is a complete list of Tshiebwe’s individual honors from this past season.

• Naismith Player of the Year
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award
• USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy
• Associated Press Player of the Year
• NABC National Player of the Year
• NABC Pete Newell Big Man of the Year
• NCAA Consensus All-America First Team
• Wooden Award All-America Team
• USBWA First-Team All-America
• NABC First-Team All-America
• Associated Press First-Team All-America
• Sporting News First-Team All-America
• Wooden Award All-America Team
• NABC All-District 20 First Team
• Southeastern Conference Player of the Year (coaches/media)
• All-SEC First Team (coaches/media)
• All-SEC Defensive Team (coaches)
• USBWA District IV Player of the Year
• USBWA All-District IV team
• CBS Sports National Player of the Year
• USA Today National Player of the Year
• USA Today First-Team All-American
• The Athletic’s National Player of the Year
• Sports Illustrated First-Team All-American
• The Field of 68 National Player of the Year
• The Field of 68 First-Team All-America
• College Hoops Today National Player of the Year
• USA Today SEC Player of the Year
• USA Today First-Team All-SEC unanimous selection