Kentucky Wildcats Basketball

Wednesday Headlines: Oscar Hittin’ Jumpers Edition

This would be a game-changer for the Cats.

By John Morgan Francis@MonJorgan Nov 17, 2021, 6:40am EST

There’s been one constant this season for the Kentucky Wildcats and head coach John Calipari — Oscar Tshiebwe dominating basketball games. Despite Kentucky’s season opening loss to Duke in the Champions Classic, Tshiebwe was an unstoppable force down low and has sustained that momentum over the team’s last two wins at home to get above .500 at 2-1.

After Tuesday night’s blowout win over Mount Saint Mary’s, Tshiebwe is now averaging more than 18 points and as many rebounds per game. He’s been a one-man-wrecking-crew for the opposition and now appears to be making his jump-shots — a true nightmare for future Kentucky opponents.

Kentucky big Oscar Tshiebwe dominated in the paint tonight.

24 points
16 rebounds

Tshiebwe is averaging 18.3 points and 18.6 boards per game so far this season @Oscartshiebwe34 pic.twitter.com/m1PpPzVqli
— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) November 17, 2021

Tshiebwe made five jump-shots on Tuesday night and while it’s early in the season, it appears that Calipari intends to “let Oscar be Oscar.” What an exciting thought.

Look out if Oscar Tshiebwe hits that jumper consistently. Calipari has been talking about how well Oscar shoots the ball.
— Shawn Smith (@gbbcountry) November 17, 2021

Again, it’s early in the season. But this year’s team appears to be one of Calipari’s better shooting teams since coming to Kentucky over a decade ago. If Tshiebwe can consistently knock down his mid-range jumper, the opposing defense will have to allocate even more attention to him which will free up other Wildcats to make shots within the offense.

Tweet of the Day

Stephen Curry has 3 games with at least 9 made three-pointers this season. The rest of the NBA has 1 such game combined (Patty Mills).

Curry recorded his 37th career game with at least 9 made threes. The next 5 players on the list have 34 such games combined. pic.twitter.com/JKkWLB8k8m
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 17, 2021

The skinny kid from Davidson.