Oscar Tshiebwe, a former West Virginia University basketball center that transferred to the University of Kentucky last year, is not going to enter into the NBA draft, and instead will finish college and play his senior year at Kentucky.
Tshiebwe was born November 17, 1999 in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. He weighs 255 lbs and stands at the height of 6’9”. He first went to Mountain Mission High School (in Grundy, Virginia), and then attended Kennedy Catholic High School (Hermitage, Pennsylvania). For college, he went to West Virginia from 2019-2021 before entering the transfor portal and headed to Kentucky.
At Kentucky, Tshiebwe averaged 17.4 points per game and led the entire country in rebounds, averaging 15.1 rebounds per game. Then at the end of the season won one of the highest awards a college basketball player could earn: he won the college National Player of the Year award. His decision to remain at Kentucky following his sensational junior year is definitely one of the biggest decisions by a college basketball player recently, because Tshiebwe would have been a first-round NBA draft pick. To show you how accomplished Tshiebwe is as a college player, listed below are some awards and highlights he’s won.
Consensus National Player of the Year (NPOY), the first in UK history.
Just the second player to win NPOY in program history, joining future NBA Hall of Famer Anthony Davis.
Consensus first-team All-American (2022)
SEC Player of the Year (2022)
NCAA season rebounds leader (2022)
First-team All-SEC (2022)
SEC All-Defensive Team (2022)
Tshiebwe proved himself to Big Blue Nation in his first game when the Wildcats faced one of Kentucky’s most hated rivals: the Duke Blue Devils. In that game, he got 20 rebounds. Even in the upset when Kentucky lost in the first round of March Madness to the Saint Peter Peacocks, he still got 30 points and snagged 16 rebounds. But he also contributed on defense getting two blocks and steals per game. Either way, I bet any NBA franchise would love to have him on their team. Tshiebwe also said, “I’m not a machine, I’m Oscar.” His return next year is amazing for Kentucky fans, and hopefully some lucky NBA team will pick him up in next year's draft.