Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe Flirts with History, Wows Twitter in Win over Providence
The basketball belongs to Oscar Tshiebwe the moment it caroms off the rim, whether opposing players know it yet or not. He proved it 25 times on Friday.
Last season's Naismith College Player of the Year was sensational in first-round action at the NCAA men's basketball tournament, leading No. 6 seed Kentucky to a 61-53 win over 11th-seeded Providence.
TOP NEWS
Tracking Men's Portal Movement 📡
Woj Responds to Criticism of Bonnies Tenure
Cayden Boozer Returning to Duke
He set the Kentucky postseason record for rebounds with 25 and was just one short of the NCAA record for a single game.
Watch March Madness Live to stream every tournament game through the Final Four.
How ridiculous was this performance? He had more rebounds than Providence had made buckets (21). Just chew on that for a moment.
Along with his hellacious rebounding, he added eight points, two blocks, two steals and two assists, while 11 of his rebounds came on the offensive glass. No other player in the game had double-digit rebounds, period.
After the game, college basketball Twitter was fawning over his huge night:
Antonio Reeves (22 points) and Jacob Toppin (18 points, six boards) added big performances for the Wildcats, while Ed Croswell led the way for Providence with 16 points.
It was a balanced performance from Kentucky, led by a staunch defense that held Providence to 5-of-23 shooting from three (21.7 percent) and 21-of-58 shooting from the field (36.2 percent).
There will be questions about Kentucky's struggles at times to generate offense against better teams. But if they play staunch defense and capitalize on their opportunities from the free-throw line, and if Tshiebwe remains a human vacuum on the glass, the Wildcats could have a deep run in them this March.
