East Panhandle News

University of Florida recently issued the following announcement.

He's 6-foot-9, 255 pounds and as long as he is strong. But what puts Kentucky center Oscar Tshiebwe over the top, as in college game's most dominant player this season, is his relentless pursuit of the basketball, as the visiting Florida Gators found out Saturday.

Tshiebwe, the transfer from West Virginia and runaway leader for 2022 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, punished UF for 27 points and 19 rebounds to lead the fourth-ranked Wildcats to a 78-57 victory at sold-out Rupp Arena. Tshiebwe played practically the entire game (38 minutes, 29 seconds) and almost out-rebounded the Gators by himself and actually doubled their numbers on the offensive glass, 10-5. As if the Wildcats, winners of five straight all 14 at home this season, really needed the extra chances.

"He was unbelievable," UF coach Mike White said.

UK coach John Calipari was equally in awe of superstar post man. "He's been a beast."

The Gators (16-9, 6-6), who had a four-game winning streak snapped, were coached in advanced about needing get bodies on Tshiebwe when UK shots went up. They knew when he took a shot around the bucket that he was chasing his shot with abandon. And they knew they needed to challenge Tshiebwe on the defensive end and make him work at both ends. They knew all that, and still couldn't do anything about it.

When he was done, Tshiebwe had canned 11 of his 18 field-goal attempts, with a couple stickbacks of his own misses, converted five of six free throws, posted three steals, a couple assists and drawn seven fouls. He was just as good in the first half (14 points, 10 rebounds) as the second (12 and 9) in running his nation-leading double-double total to 18.

And his 19 rebounds, unofficially, were believed to be the most by a UF opponent since Shaquille O'Neal grabbed 19 for LSU on Feb. 5, 1992 at the O'Connell Center.  

"Usually, when he gets it he's right around the rim, [the ball's] like a shot-put or a volleyball tip for him," said Florida forward Colin Castleton, who got 17 points, seven rebounds and surely quite enough of the UK's "Big O" Saturday. "He's the best rebounder I've ever played against. That's his skill set. That's what he's good at." 

The Wildcats, meanwhile, are good at a lot of things. They came into the game tops in the SEC in scoring, field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage and played to that identity pretty much from the opening tip. Grad-transfer guard Kellen Grady (15 points), a 2,000-point scorer his last four years at Davidson, hit a couple 3s on UK's first two offensive possessions and the Wildcats never trailed thereafter. A run of a dozen consecutive points had the home team up 20-6 before six minutes had ticked off the clock.

About a minute later, UF point guard Tyree Appleby got his legs tangled up with a UK defender and went to the floor in agony. Appleby aggravated a deep thigh bruise he suffered just three nights earlier in a home win over Georgia. He left the game for the balance of the half, but without him the Gators rallied, first for 10 straight points, for a run of 15-2 to close within a point.

The Kentucky lead was a modest five at halftime.

"We started the game with less urgency and communication needed, especially from our front court," White said. "Started the same in the second half."

There would be no coming back from that.

Appleby tried to give it a go out of the locker room, but didn't make it to the first media timeout before leaving the game for good. He'll be day-to-day, according to athletic trainer Dave Werner.

Along the way, standout freshman guard TyTy Washington popped a couple 3s and Tshiebwe threw down a slam that to highlight a 13-2 push and had the Gators quickly down 16. The closest they got the rest of the way was eight, 50-42 with 14 minutes to go, but the Cats, who shot 51.5 percent in the second half, outscored the Gators 28-15 the rest of the way, including 13-2 over the last 4:58.

"It came down to them getting more rebounds, doing the little things better, hustling harder. And in transition, they killed us. Outran us rim to rim and got so many more second-chance points, with Oscar," Castleton said. "I have to do a better job." 

White agreed it wasn't one of Castleton's better performances, even though he was the lone UF player to find double-figure scoring. In going 8-for-12 from the floor, Castleton hit three jumpers from near the free-throw line, which were positive (and showed hints to a different part of his game), but White would have preferred his 6-11 big man mix it up down low and make Tshiebwe work a little harder on the defensive end.

"We played on the perimeter too much," White said.

Perhaps so, but they were also playing one of nation's best players and best teams, and at one of the toughest environments in the country. Not one Gator who suited up Saturday ever had experienced the wrath of 24,000 maniacs at Rupp. The best laid plans often go sideways in that building.

As White put it, "The volume in here can drain you."

So can nearly 39 minutes of Tshiebwe flailing away. The Gators will get to see him again next month in Gainesville, but they've got work to do to make that one really matter.

"We have to put this behind us," Castleton said. "It sucks. We had a good opportunity and didn't do what we needed to do. We've got six games left. We have to control what we can and try to win every game."

Original source can be found here.