Oscar Tshiebwe offers update, timetable on return from knee injury. ‘It’s feeling great.’
College basketball’s reigning national player of the year drew quite a crowd in the opening minutes of Kentucky’s media day Tuesday afternoon.
Surrounded by a crush of reporters and TV cameras, Oscar Tshiebwe sounded confident that the knee procedure he underwent on Oct. 13 won’t have much of an impact — if any at all — on his second season with the Wildcats.
“The knee’s feeling better,” Tshiebwe said. “We keep doing the rehab — it’s feeling great.”
Tshiebwe didn’t offer an exact timetable for his return to the court — and neither did Coach John Calipari — but college basketball’s best player from a season ago isn’t expecting to miss any real games as a result of the setback.
Calipari announced a couple of weeks ago that his star player would have a “minor” procedure on his knee after sitting out two of the team’s practices. The UK coach implied at SEC media day last week that Tshiebwe was already ahead of schedule on his recovery, noting that he was off crutches earlier than expected. A few days later, he took part in community service events and attended the team’s Blue-White Game in Eastern Kentucky without the use of crutches.
Tshiebwe cut off a question Wednesday about whether he thought he’d be back for the Cats’ regular-season opener.
“Absolutely,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t think I will miss any games.”
He added that he “probably” wouldn’t play in either of UK’s two exhibition games — the first scheduled for Sunday night and the second for Nov. 3 — as he continues to train toward the regular season. Kentucky will host Howard University on Nov. 7 in the first real game of the 2022-23 campaign. The biggest tests in the early part of the Cats’ schedule are expected to come from Michigan State on Nov. 15 and Gonzaga on Nov. 20.
Tshiebwe said he was in constant communication with team doctors and trainers, and the ultimate decision on when he returns would be left up to them.
“Whatever they tell me, I’m ready to go,” he said.
Calipari wasn’t as specific on the details of Tshiebwe’s rehab, but he also didn’t sound concerned about getting the 6-foot-9 center back on the court.
“For the time being, that’s what it is: He’ll train and it’ll swell a little bit and it’ll go away,” Calipari said. “But he’s telling me, ‘I feel really good. My leg feels good. I don’t have the same pain that was there.’”
The UK coach said Tshiebwe told him there wasn’t much pain to begin with.
“But it’s nothing now,” Calipari said. “My thing is: We’re not going to hold him back, but you’re not going to push him forward either. And his pace and timing may be different than someone else. Someone else may be longer, someone else may be shorter, but I do know he’s 252 pounds. He’s big. Seven percent body fat.”
Tshiebwe said he was playing through some pain earlier this month. “I had a pain. But I’m a warrior. Unless my wheel falls off, then I’ll stop. But if I got the pain, and I keep going, I don’t quit.”
Eventually, Kentucky’s coaches made him quit.
Tshiebwe said he wanted to play during the Cats’ second Pro Day session on Oct. 10, but his knee had swelled some after the previous night’s Pro Day event, and he was told he would need to sit out and get his knee checked before he returned to the court. That’s when they decided to go ahead and get the procedure out of the way, hopefully clearing Tshiebwe for a pain-free season.
His objective remains the same: a ninth national championship for UK.
“I came back here for one reason — to work for No. 9,” Tshiebwe said.
Next game
Missouri Western State at No. 4 Kentucky
What: Preseason exhibition game
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: Rupp Arena
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published October 25, 2022 at 2:26 PM.
