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John Calipari and Oscar Tshiebwe give update on recovery from knee surgery

“I’m a warrior.”

Oscar Tshiebwe Media Day Dylan Ballard - Sea of Blue

UPDATE

Here is what John Calipari said today about the status of Kentucky Wildcats forward Oscar Tshiebwe.

“He’s (Oscar) moving around pretty good,” Calipari said. “Gotta stay off his feet. The kid will stand and sign autographs and take pictures. Well, he’s gotta stay off his feet. When he trains, it may swell a little bit, but it’ll go away.

“For the time being, that’s what it is. But he’s telling me, ‘I feel really good. My leg feels good. I don’t have the same pain that was there (before the surgery).’ He says it wasn’t much (before), but it’s nothing now.

“We’re not going to hold him back, but you’re not going to push him forward.”

Not quite as definitive on a return date as you’d hope, but it still appears Tshiebwe is in no danger of missing Game 1.


Media Day has arrived for the Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team. With it comes several important updates on the Cats as they prepare for the new college basketball season.

Perhaps the biggest thing to watch for is the health of Oscar Tshiebwe, who underwent a minor knee procedure on October 13th and was expected to be sidelined for about three weeks.

Though he’ll miss all of the exhibition games, Tshiebwe is widely expected to be ready for the regular-season opener vs. Howard on November 7th.

Today, Tshiebwe reinforced that belief.

The defending National Player of the Year, Tshiebwe led the country in rebounding with 15.1 boards per game to go along with a team-high 17.4 points per contest. He set a Kentucky single-season record with 28 double-doubles while finishing the season as the only major-conference player averaging 1.6 blocks and 1.6 steals per game.

As long as Tshiebwe is healthy, Kentucky should be one of the best teams in America and a serious threat to win it all this season.

But first things first. Tshiebwe has to get back to 100% health, which is appears he’s on his way to doing.

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