LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky junior forward Oscar Tshiebwe, who leads the country in rebounding, was named one of four finalists for the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year on Tuesday.
Tshiebwe not only averaged a double-double but did so with a considerable margin — averaging a team-best 17.4 points and a nation-leading 15.1 rebounds per game. He is the first Division I player who averaged at least 15.0 points and at least 15.0 rebounds per game since Drake’s Lewis Lloyd and Alcorn State’s Larry Smith each did during the 1979-80 season, and the first major-conference player who averaged at least 16.0 points and at least 15.0 rebounds for a season since Bill Walton at UCLA in 1972-73. He became the first Wildcat to do it since Bob Burrow tallied 19.1 points and 17.7 rebounds per game in 1954-55.
He is joined on the finalist list by Ochai Agbaji (Kansas), Johnny Davis (Wisconsin) and Keegan Murray (Iowa).
A fan vote will account for 5% of the voting. Voting ends at 6 p.m. EDT on March 29 and fans are limited to one vote per day. Fans can vote atwww.naismithfavorite.com or on Twitter (@MarchMadness and @naismithtrophy) to cast their ballot.
The winner will be announced at the Final Four in New Orleans on April 3.
In addition to his offensive and rebounding prowess, on the defensive end Tshiebwe is the only major conference player who averaged at least 1.6 blocked shots and 1.6 steals per game. He also became only the third player in program history to amass at least 500 rebounds in a season. Tshiebwe finished the year with 515 boards.
Tshiebwe corralled at least 10 boards in all but two games this season, and finished the season with 21 straight games with double-digit rebounds. That’s a record for the Wildcats dating back to the 1967-68 season with complete game-by-game rebounding records. Dan Issel had two stretches of 12 such games. It’s also the longest stretch by any SEC player since at least 1996- 97. It’s also the longest streak in one season by any Division I player since Rokas Gustys of Hofstra had 23 straight in 2016.
Tshiebwe has been elite on the glass from the very beginning of the season. He set new records for the Champions Classic and UK debut with 20 boards vs. Duke in the season opener, nearly tied the Rupp Arena record with 20 rebounds in his first home game, and then shattered that Rupp record with 28 boards vs. Western Kentucky. That easily surpassed Shaquille O’Neal’s previous mark of 21. It’s worth noting Tshiebwe did that primarily against the tallest player in college basketball, Jamarion Sharp, who stands at 7-foot-5. With 20 boards the following game against Missouri, his 48 boards tied for the most over a two-game span by any Division I player over the last 25 seasons (according to ESPN Stats & Info).
Tshiebwe concluded the season with 16 straight double-doubles, the longest streak since complete game-by-game rebounding records were kept dating back to 1969. He totaled 28 double-doubles this season which is a new UK single-season record.
He ended the season becoming only the second Wildcat since 1978-79 to finish the season leading the team in points per game (17.4), rebounds per game (15.1), steals per game (1.8), blocks per game (1.6) and field-goal percentage with a minimum of 100 attempts (60.6%).
Tshiebwe was responsible for 37.8% of all of UK’s rebounds thus far. Taking away team rebounds, that number jumped to 41.2%.
Tshiebwe is racking up postseason honors by the day. The major honors he’s won so far include:
- NCAA Consensus All-America First Team
- USBWA First-Team All-America
- NABC First-Team All-America
- Associated Press First-Team All-America
- Sporting News First-Team All-America
- 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
- 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
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and on the web at UKathletics.com.