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Kentucky's Tshiebwe named AP men's college player of year

Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky, left, is introduced as The Associated Press men's basketball player of the year, by Barry Bedlan, AP global director of text and new markets products, in New Orleans, Friday, April 1, 2022. The 6-foot-9, 255-pound junior received 46 of 60 votes from a national media panel. Wisconsin's Johnny Davis was second with 10 votes. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Gerald Herbert/AP
/
AP
Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky, left, is introduced as The Associated Press men's basketball player of the year, by Barry Bedlan, AP global director of text and new markets products, in New Orleans, Friday, April 1, 2022. The 6-foot-9, 255-pound junior received 46 of 60 votes from a national media panel. Wisconsin's Johnny Davis was second with 10 votes. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)



Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky is The Associated Press men's college basketball player of the year. The 6-foot-9, 255-pound junior received 46 of 60 votes from a national media panel.

Kentucky men’s basketball forward Oscar Tshiebwe was awarded the Associated Press Player of the Year honor during a presentation inside the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Friday.

Tshiebwe is the second UK player to be named the AP’s top performer joining Anthony Davis (2012). He is the fourth player from the Southeastern Conference to earn the nod joining Davis and LSU’s Shaquille O’Neal (1991) and Pete Maravich (1970).

The AP began awarding a national player of the year accolade in 1961. He’s the third player coached by John Calipari to earn the accolade joining Davis and UMass’ Marcus Camby (1996).

This marks the third NCAA-recognized electors for national player of the year honor that Tshiebwe has been awarded. He was also picked as the nation’s top performer by The Sporting News and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Tshiebwe not only averaged a double-double but did so with a considerable margin -- averaging a team-best 17.4 points and a nation-leading 15.1 rebounds
per game. He is the first Division I player who averaged 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 during the 1979-80 season, and the first major-conference player who averaged at least 16.0 points and at
least 15.0 rebounds for a season since Bill Walton at UCLA in 1972-73. He became the first Wildcat to do it since Bob Burrow tallied 19.1 points and 17.7 rebounds per game in 1954-55.

In addition to his offensive and rebounding prowess, on the defensive end Tshiebwe was the only major conference player who averaged at least 1.6 blocked shots and 1.6 steals per game during the regular season. He also became only the third player in program history to amass at least 500
rebounds in a season. Tshiebwe finished the year with 515 boards.

A unanimous first-team All-American, Tshiebwe corralled at least 10 boards in all but two games this season and finished the season with 21 straight games with double-digit rebounds. That's a record for the Wildcats dating back to the 1967-68 season with complete game-by-game rebounding records. Dan Issel had two stretches of 12 such games. It's
also the longest stretch by any SEC player since at least 1996- 97. It’s also the longest streak in one season by any Division I player since Rokas Gustys of Hofstra had 23 straight in 2016.

Tshiebwe was elite on the glass from the very beginning of the season. He set new records for the Champions Classic and UK debut with 20 boards vs.
Duke in the season opener, nearly tied the Rupp Arena record with 20 rebounds in his first home game, and then shattered that Rupp record with 28 boards vs. Western Kentucky. That easily surpassed Shaquille O'Neal's previous mark of 21. It's worth noting Tshiebwe did that primarily against the tallest player in college basketball, Jamarion Sharp, who stands at 7-foot-5. With 20 boards the following game against Missouri, his 48 boards tied for the most over a two-game span by any Division I player over the last 25 seasons (according to ESPN Stats & Info). He concluded the season with 16 straight double-doubles, the longest streak since complete game-by-game rebounding records were kept dating back to 1969 for the Wildcats. He totaled 28 double-doubles this season which is a new UK single-season record.

Tshiebwe ended the season becoming only the second Wildcat since 1978-79 to finish the season leading the team in points per game (17.4), rebounds per game (15.1), steals per game (1.8), blocks per game (1.6) and field-goal percentage with a minimum of 100 attempts (60.6%). Davis was
the other to achieve the feat.

At the conclusion of the season, Tshiebwe was responsible for 37.8% of all of UK’s rebounds. Taking away team rebounds, that number jumped to 41.2%.

Tshiebwe is racking up postseason honors by the day. The major honors he’s won so far include:

  • Associated Press National Player of the Year
  • NABC National Player of the Year
  • NABC Pete Newell Big Man of the Year
  • NCAA Consensus All-America First Team
  • USBWA First-Team All-America
  • NABC First-Team All-America
  • Associated Press First-Team All-America
  • Sporting News First-Team All-America
  • Wooden Award All-America Team
  • NABC All-District 20 First Team
  • Southeastern Conference Player of the Year (coaches/media)
  • All-SEC First Team (coaches/media)
  • All-SEC Defensive Team (coaches)
  • USBWA District IV Player of the Year
  • USBWA All-District IV team
  • CBS Sports National Player of the Year
  • USA Today National Player of the Year
  • USA Today First-Team All-American
  • The Athletic’s National Player of the Year
  • Sports Illustrated First-Team All-American
  • The Field of 68 National Player of the Year
  • The Field of 68 First-Team All-America
  • College Hoops Today National Player of the Year
  • USA Today SEC Player of the Year
  • USA Today First-Team All-SEC unanimous selection