Oscar Tshiebwe wins AP National Player of the Year
Tshiebwe is the second Wildcat to win the AP National Player of the Year.
NEW ORLEANS (UK Athletics)–Kentucky men’s basketball forward Oscar Tshiebwe was awarded the Associated Press Player of the Year honor during a presentation inside the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Friday.
Tshiebwe is the second UK player to be named the AP’s top performer joining Anthony Davis (2012). He is the fourth player from the Southeastern Conference to earn the nod joining Davis and LSU’s Shaquille O’Neal (1991) and Pete Maravich (1970). The AP began awarding a national player of the year accolade in 1961. He’s the third player coached by John Calipari to earn the accolade joining Davis and UMass’ Marcus Camby (1996).
This marks the third NCAA-recognized electors for national player of the year honor that Tshiebwe has been awarded. He was also picked as the nation’s top performer by The Sporting News and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
“Thank you. First of all, I would like to thank God, because I feel like you cannot get without him,” said Tshiebwe. “If I did not trust God and let him lead me in everything I do. And second, I would love to thank my coaches and everybody on the staff for always believing in me and always work with me through the process. My teammates, I thank my teammates for everything, too, because I could not do it on my own. I needed somebody like my teammates to encourage, to be with me in everything we’ve done together.
“And I’m very grateful to be here. And I thank the organization for choosing me as player of the year,” Tshiebwe said. “I’m very thankful for them too. And I’m very happy to be here. Very happy, and I’m very excited. This is one of the things, like, it is everybody’s dream to receive that trophy right there. But I’m sitting right here receiving that trophy. That makes me feel very happy and I’m really grateful for everything. Thank you.”
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.
