There have been a lot of college basketball stars that have played in Rupp Arena, and none of them have put together a performance on the boards like Oscar Tshiebwe did on Wednesday.
Tshiebwe pulled down an absurd 28 rebounds — to go with 14 points — in No. 20 Kentucky’s 95-60 win over Western Kentucky. He did this with 7’5″ center Jamarion Sharpe — who had seven blocks in this game for Western Kentucky — on the other side.
The 28 rebounds are the most by a Kentucky player since Mike Phillips also had 28 in 1976.
28 rebounds for @Oscartshiebwe34
🔵 New Rupp Arena record
🔵 T-6th all-time by a UK player 🔵 Most by a UK player since 1976. pic.twitter.com/VNgW4tLk2W— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) December 23, 2021
Break a Rupp Arena record ➡️ celebration shower
🎉 @Oscartshiebwe34 pic.twitter.com/eNiFThKgZD
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) December 23, 2021
Bump. Oscar finishes with a Rupp Arena-record 28 boards, most by a Kentucky player since Mike Phillips' 28 in 1976. Spent a long time talking to Oscar about his life and journey to this point. https://t.co/WIOHFDqi3Z
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) December 23, 2021
It’s also the highest rebounding total from a D-I player since 2015.
Oscar Tshiebwe!!! 28 rebounds!!!
– Most by a Kentucky player since 1976
– A Rupp Arena record
– Most by an SEC player this century
– Most by any D-I player since 2015— Jared Berson (@JaredBerson) December 23, 2021
Tshiebwe even outrebounded the entire Western Kentucky team! He’s the first SEC player in the last 25 years to outrebound an entire opposing team.
Oscar Tshiebwe: 28 rebounds
Western Kentucky: 27 rebounds@Oscartshiebwe34 is the only SEC player over the last 25 seasons to outrebound an entire opposing team 😳 pic.twitter.com/fIlpSLt9fZ— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) December 23, 2021
Tshiebwe is now averaging an incredible 15.5 rebounds per game this season, becoming the first player since Tim Duncan (15.1 rebounds at Wake Forest in 1996-97) to average 15-plus rebounds over the first 11 games of a season.
Including 28 rebounds tonight, Oscar Tshiebwe of @KentuckyMBB is now averaging 15.5 rebounds per game in 11 games this season.
He's the first Division I player to average 15.0+ rebounds over his first 11 games of a season since Wake Forest's Tim Duncan in 1996-97 (15.1).
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) December 23, 2021
And in his 11 games, Tshiebwe has all three of the 10-point, 20-rebound games from a Kentucky player over the last 25 seasons. Amazing.
My favorite Oscar Tshiebwe stat from tonight: There have been three 10-point, 20-rebound games by a Kentucky player in the last 25 seasons.
Tshiebwe has them all. (via @ESPNStatsInfo)
He's played 11 total games for the Wildcats!
14 points and 28 boards tonight.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) December 23, 2021
Tshiebwe was a solid player at West Virginia in the previous two seasons, averaging 10.6 points and 8.9 rebounds over that time. But he’s taking things to a completely different level at Kentucky.
