By LARRY VAUGHT
Western Kentucky coach Rick Stansbury, a Kentucky native, has seen a lot of special performances by UK players during his time coaching at Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Western. However, nothing has topped what he saw from Oscar Tshiebwe last week when UK beat his team 95-60.
Tshiebwe had a Rupp Arena record 28 rebounds — the most by a UK player since Mike Phillips also had 28 in 1976. He had one more rebound than the entire Western team. He grabbed an astonishing 42 percent of the missed shots in the game.
Stansbury says Tshiebwe has always been about rebounding more than anything else.
“I thought this when I saw him as a high school guy. Rebounding is about half ability, and that other half is about will, the will, that motor. He did that in high school,” Stansbury said after the game.
“One thing to separate him from every other big guy in the country was his motor on the offensive boards. He just has always done that. Then naturally now, Cal’s got him scoring a little bit. So, when you score a little bit, too, that just gives you more energy.”
Western Kentucky played West Virginia during the 2020-21 season when Tshiebwe was still with the Mountaineers. He had seven points and five rebounds in 17 minutes.
“He’s got a lot better offensively. We played him last year, when he was at West Virginia. He’s not even close to the player offensively he was, so give their staff a lot of credit,” Stansbury said.
“They’ve done a good job developing him at Kentucky. He’s got a motor, takes a lot of pride in rebounding. That’s why he’s the best in the country at it. Twenty-eight rebounds? I’ve never had anybody go get 28 rebounds.”