Vanderbilt's physicality gave Oscar Tshiebwe fits

It’s tough to say that someone who posted 11 points and 17 rebounds didn’t live up to the (admittedly insane) expectations that have been placed upon him, but that was the case for Oscar Tshiebwe on Wednesday night.

Against the Vanderbilt Commodores inside of Rupp Arena, Tshiebwe shot just 2-5 from the field in his 35 minutes of action, recording four fouls as well while expressing a level of general frustration that isn’t normal for him. Kentucky snuck away with a 77-70 win, but not without an excessive amount of foul calls on both sides.

In the second half, the 6-foot-9 center picked up a cheap flagrant foul as he was tussling for position with a Vanderbilt player. It wasn’t anything egregious from Tshiebwe, but rather a culmination of the back-and-forth jabs from both sides that the referees believed warranted a flagrant, if only to prevent the situation from escalating. He also picked up a second flagrant foul in this game, as well.

(In college basketball, two flagrant 1 fouls do not result in an ejection. A flagrant 2 foul call or two technical foul calls, however, will result in an ejection.)

Tshiebwe didn’t play a bad game by any means — he still recorded his fourth consecutive double-double and 16th on the season while adding three assists and four steals. But that being said, Vanderbilt made it a point to push him, jab him, shove him, do anything that would throw him off his spot. To Vandy’s credit, the tactic mostly worked, particularly when the whistles weren’t coming in the first half.

“I think they egged him on,” Kentucky head coach John Calipari said postgame of Tshiebwe getting pushed around in the paint. “Now what do you think the other coaches that are watching this game are going to say? Don’t let him move. In other words, if he tries to cut, chest him, bump him – do stuff to aggravate him.

“He’s going to have to be smart because now that’s what they’ll do, because you can’t stop his progress from running unless you do. And they let you do it. You push, what do they say? Well, you fouled. Like I said, it was a physical game, but it is what it is.”

If there’s one trend of Tshiebwe’s that he needs to buck as Kentucky heads into the final leg of the regular season, it’s improving his aggressiveness against bigger centers. He struggles to find his footing and get off clean looks against those taller than him. That isn’t to say he hasn’t been able to do so at all this season, just that he’s noticeably played a step below his usual capabilities on offense against players 6-foot-10 or taller.

As Calipari mentioned, opposing teams are going to hone in on this potential crack in Tshiebwe’s game. Through 22 games this season, the junior big man has been mostly unstoppable, but now there are no more secrets about his game. If the officials aren’t going to call a tight game, then opposing teams will gladly beat up on Tshiebwe if it will knock him off his rhythm.

Unfortunately for most teams, just slowing down Tshiebwe’s offense won’t win a game against Kentucky. Davion Mintz became the sixth UK player this season hit the 20-point mark, dropping 21 points against Vandy. Keion Brooks Jr. dropped 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. Kellan Grady drilled four first-half triples. Sahvir Wheeler dished out nine assists.

If Vanderbilt wanted to beat Kentucky, it was going to need to do a lot more than try and push around Tshiebwe.

But, as of right now, this is the blueprint for slowing down the National Player of the Year frontrunner: rough him up and make him shoot over taller defenders. So far, he hasn’t proven he can consistently dominate in that circumstance.

This won’t be the last time Tshiebwe has to deal with this either. He, and by extension the rest of his Wildcat teammates, need to be the ones bringing the physicality instead of letting it hit them first.

“I told them after, ‘Guys, if I watch that tape and I’m an opposing coach, I say, ‘Let’s just try to beat the crap out of a couple of these guys, they’ll go away,'” Calipari said. “Can’t accept that. You’ve got to beat them in two spots. You’ve got to be the first to hit. You’ve got to be quick coming off screens. You can’t be late so the guy can move, physically move a foot, and knock you down. You can’t. You’ve got to be body-to-body. That becomes so obvious a foul they’ve got to call it.”

Down the stretch against Vanderbilt, Tshiebwe did a better job of beating Vandy to the “spots” Calipari mentioned. It resulted in him taking eight free-throw attempts in the second half, five of which he made. What makes Tshiebwe so much of a force to handle is he’s always going to fight for the entire game. So even when he’s not putting the ball in the basket, he’s making his opponents work hard.

Towards the end of the Vandy game, Tshiebwe had the Commodore bigs completely worn out, even if he was frustrated with his individual performance.