LEXINGTON – So much for the no comment.
Speaking to reporters for the first time Wednesday since his former coach Bob Huggins said he left West Virginia because he did not want to do hard things, Kentucky basketball junior forward Oscar Tshiebwe first declined to respond to Huggins’ swipe.
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Then he commented anyway.
“I know I always work harder and I always try to get better,” Tshiebwe said. “Just because things don’t go right doesn’t mean you quit. God has plans for every human being. We always have great plans for ourselves, but we forget what God has for us.
“… I cannot say anything about Bob Huggins. He was a good coach. He coached me and he did everything for me, tried to help me, but I have no comment I can say about that.”
After West Virginia’s Nov. 18 win over Elon, Huggins issued a challenge to his own players to earn their minutes or “go ahead and transfer.” He then took a not-so-veiled shot at Tshiebwe.
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“We lost an alleged McDonald’s All-American because he didn’t like the fact that we were making him do things that were hard,” Huggins said, according to the West Virginia student newspaper. “So, we’re fine.”
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Informed of Huggins’ comment following Kentucky’s win over Ohio a day later, Kentucky coach Calipari first insisted he and Huggins remain friends and then said he would have to look into the context of the quote before passing judgment.
Still, he made sure to defend Tshiebwe, who became the first Kentucky player since 1994 to grab 20 rebounds a game in his debut against Duke then reached the 20-rebound plateau again three days later in a win over Robert Morris.
“It’s hard to say he doesn’t work hard,” Calipari said. “He’s averaging 20 rebounds a game. He works hard.”
Tshiebwe averaged 10.6 points and 8.9 rebounds in 41 career games at West Virginia before transferring to Kentucky midway through last season.
In his first interview with local Kentucky media in June, Tshiebwe called Kentucky his “dream school” and confirmed a much-talked-about rumor that he actually wanted to sign with the Wildcats out of high school. He had no clear answer when asked why he signed with West Virginia then.
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Through five games, Tshiebwe leads the country in rebounding (16 rebounds per game) and ranks third on UK’s team in scoring (13.4 points per game). He tallied 20 rebounds in each of his first two games as a Wildcat then erupted for 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting in game No. 3.
Foul trouble has limited Tshiebwe’s minutes in the last two games, but he still managed to record double-digit rebounds in both. He has four double-doubles in five games.
That performance led Tshiebwe’s new Kentucky teammates to quickly take up for him after Huggins comments, a fact that was not lost on the 6-foot-9, 255-pound forward.
“When you say somebody is not working hard, that thing can carry everywhere you go,” Tshiebwe said Wednesday. “If my teammates say, ‘Oscar, he’s working hard,’ coaches say, ‘We love Oscar; he is working hard,’ that means – It’s not like people are just saying it. You can see in the games. I don’t give up.
“…It is hard to go out there and say somebody is working hard by seeing the stuff I’m doing on the basketball court trying to help my team to win. I don’t care about myself. If there’s a game I’m in foul trouble, you see me on the sideline over on the bench screaming.”
Email Jon Hale at [email protected]; Follow him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY
