LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky junior forward Oscar Tshiebwe won National Player of the Year honors from The Sporting News, the publication announced on Wednesday.

Tshiebwe is only the second Wildcat to earn this honor in the publication’s long history. Sporting News has crowned a player of the year dating back to 1943 and the only other winner from the UK was Anthony Davis in 2012.

Tshiebwe not only averages a double-double, but does so by a considerable margin — averaging a team-best 17.3 points and a national-best 15.3 rebounds per game. He’s looking to become the first Division I player to average 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 it at the during the 1979-80 season, and the first major conference player to average. at least 16.0 points and at least 15.0 rebounds for a season since Bill Walton at UCLA in 1972-73. He would be the first Wildcat to do so since Bob Burrow had 19.1 points and 17.7 rebounds per game in 1954-55.

Along with his offensive and rebounding prowess, defensively, Tshiebwe is the only major player in the conference to average at least 1.5 blocked shots and 1.5 steals per game. He also grabbed 56 more rebounds than the next closest player this season, in games on March 5.

Tshiebwe has mustered at least 10 boards in all but two games this season, and is in the middle of an 18-game double-digit rebounding streak. It’s a record for the Wildcats dating back to the 1967-68 season with all game-by-game rebounding records. Dan Issel had two such 12-game streaks. It’s also the longest streak by an SEC player since at least 1996-97. It’s also the longest single-season streak by a major conference player since Colorado State’s Nico Carvacho had 18 straight games in 2018.

Tshiebwe has been elite on the glass since the very start of the season. He set new records for the Champions Classic and his UK debut with 20 boards against Duke in the season opener, nearly tied the Rupp Arena record with 20 rebounds in his first home game , then broke that Rupp record with 28 boards against Western Kentucky. . This easily surpassed Shaquille O’Neal’s previous mark of 21 years. It should be noted that Tshiebwe did this primarily against college basketball’s tallest player, Jamarion Sharp, who is 7-foot-5. With 20 boards the next game against Missouri, his 48 boards are tied over a two-game span by any Division I player in the last 25 seasons (according to ESPN Stats & Info).

With 474 rebounds on the season, Tshiebwe has the third-most single-season rebounds in UK history, and the most since Cliff Hagan in 1952. Two players have grabbed more than 500 in a season (Bill Spivey – 567 in 1951 and Hagan – – 528 in 1952). If Tshiebwe continues to average 15 rebounds per game, he would need to play just two more games to become the third player to hit the 500 rebound plateau.

Tshiebwe is on the way to scoring 13 consecutive double-doubles, the longest streak since complete game-by-game rebound records have been kept since 1969. He has totaled 25 double-doubles this season and trails only Dan Issel who has the record with 26 in 1969-70. He trails Navy’s David Robinson’s single-season record of 31 by just six that was set in 1985-86.

He currently leads the Wildcats in points per game (17.3), rebounds per game (15.3), steals per game (1.9), blocks per game (1.5) and field goal percentage with a 100 minimum. attempts (60.6%). Since the 1978-79 season, only one Wildcat has led the team in those five categories (minimum 130 field goal attempts) in a single season – Davis in 2011-12.

Additionally, Tshiebwe is responsible for 38.0% of all UK rebounds so far. Stripping out team rebounds, that number jumps to 41.4%.

Tshiebwe is racking up playoff honors day by day. Major honors he has won so far include:

• Sporting News National Player of the Year
• Sporting News All-America First Team
• Southeastern Conference Player of the Year (Coaches/Media)
• All-SEC First Team (Coaches/Media)
• All-SEC Defensive Team (Coaches)
• Sports Illustrated First Team All-American
• The Field of 68 National Player of the Year
• The 68 All-America First Team Champ
• College Hoops Today National Player of the Year
• USA Today SEC Player of the Year
• USA Today Unanimous All-SEC First Team Selection
• John R. Wooden Award Finalist
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Final Five
• Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semi-Finalist

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