Despite the eye-catching stats, Calipari says Tshiebwe can be even better
Oscar Tshiebwe has posted double-doubles in 20 of 26 games, including eight straight. He leads the nation in rebounding (15.3 per game) and offensive rebounding (5.27). These statistics make him a prime contender for national player of the year recognition.
Despite all that, there’s room for improvement … on both ends of the floor.
In the loss at Tennessee on Tuesday, Vols big man John Fulkerson drew Tshiebwe away from the basket more than once before driving past him for scores.
“He didn’t take pride in it,” UK Coach John Calipari said of Tshiebwe’s perimeter defense. “And I told him, and I showed him and the team. … You never got down in a (defensive) stance. You never moved your feet. You never got in front (of Fulkerson). You just let him do whatever he wanted to do.
“Take pride in it.”
Fulkerson finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.
Tshiebwe said he had been concentrating on defense in practices, and this will be evident against Alabama on Saturday.
“Tomorrow, I think I will do better than I did at Tennessee,” he said.
On offense, Tshiebwe has not been as assertive when facing taller opponents. Alabama has a 7-footer in freshman Charles Bediako.
“Most of it that he has too much respect for the other guy,” Calipari said.
This led the UK coach to say a question popped into his head. “Why are you respecting the guy?” he said. “He’s not as good as you. It’s almost like you think he’s better than he thinks he is.”
On defense and offense, Tshiebwe must play with the kind of purpose he took to rebounding going into this season, Calipari said. Tshiebwe famously said he wanted to average 20 rebounds a game.
“I want Oscar to play again like he has something to prove,” the UK coach said.
Masked man
Juwan Gary, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, wears a black mask when he plays. That is the result of a facial contusion he absorbed when Alabama played LSU on Jan. 19. He sat out the next two games.
“We just look at him and he looks even more like a dog, man,” teammate James Rojas said last month.
In Alabama’s victory over defending national champion Baylor, Gary scored a career-high 15 points. He also grabbed three rebounds and blocked a shot.
“If he shoots seven for eight from the field every time he wears it, I think we’ll keep it,” Alabama Coach Nate Oats said of the mask. “Get him to get a few more rebounds. Make him feel a little more of a tough guy. …
“Shoot, if it works for him, we might just get it made for a few other guys.”
‘Angry Chuck’
Bediako, a 7-foot freshman from Ontario, Canada, has said his nickname is intended to be motivational.
“I’ve got to play more with more of a chip on my shoulder,’ he said. “I get most of it on defense. Once I get stuff on defense, they call me ‘Angry Chuck’ even though I’m not angry.”
Bediako is coming off a game against Mississippi State in which he scored a career-high 15 points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked six shots.
In the first game against Kentucky, Bediako had 12 points, eight rebounds and one block.
Math major
Oats was asked to explain Alabama making three of 33 three-point shots in the first game against Kentucky, and then making 14 of 22 shots from beyond the arc against Ole Miss four days later.
“Regression back to the mean?” the Alabama coach said.
This was a math reference: if one sample of a random variable is extreme, the next sampling of the same random variable is likely to be closer to the mean (average).”
Oats was a math major at Maranatha Baptist University, a Division III school in Watertown, Wis. He scored 970 points as a college player (1993-97).
Etc.
Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery will call the game for CBS.
Prior to the game, CBS will air its annual Bracket Preview Show. The Selection Committee will reveal its top 16 seeds at that moment (three weeks before Selection Sunday). The preview show will air at 12:30 p.m.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 1:57 PM.
