Oscar Tshiebwe's Defensive Improvement Opening Doors for Kentucky Late in Season

Tshiebwe has seemingly shaken the pick-and-roll monkey off of his back as the regular season nears its end.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The defense of Kentucky center Oscar Tshiebwe became quite the talking point as the Wildcats were drug through the mud back in January. 

As UK was stumbling, the reigning National Player of the Year was looking nothing like his form that earned him every award in the book just a season ago. Signs of regression appeared as that oozing dominance was nowhere to be found for the West Virginia transfer. 

That was translated in a big way by opposing coaches, who made it loud and clear what the game plan was when the Cats were up next on the schedule. Alabama head coach Nate Oats was the first to explicitly say so after his Crimson Tide diced up UK in a 78-52 thumping on Jan. 7. 

“I thought part of guarding Tshiebwe too was we decided to attack him early in ball screens. I don’t think he’s very good guarding ball screens," Oats said. "We got behind him I think three times right out of the gate… We’ve seen him mess up a lot of ball screen coverages in scouting them so we wanted to attack them in that. When we did attack, they pulled him out of the game.”

It would be that outing that saw Tshiebwe get pulled to the bench in a hurry by coach John Calipari for perhaps the first time in his Kentucky career. It wasn't due to injury or foul trouble, he was just getting pummeled on the defensive end by Bama big man Charles Bediako and Co. 

He finished with a poor four points and six rebounds. 

Just three days later, the panic button was glaring red after South Carolina — a 10-19 basketball team that's rated 239th in the NET — waltzed into Rupp Arena and shocked the Cats in a 71-68 triumph.

After the stunner, first-year coach Lamont Paris echoed some of Oats' sentiments:

"It appeared in the last game that there was some, maybe a little indecision on what they wanted to do in the ball screens,” Paris said. I wanted to have Tshiebwe have to move and make decisions, and if they were going to switch this or if they were going to go under this or what they were going to do, so I thought the ball screens and attacking the rim was a big part of what we wanted to do.”

Those two games — and set of postgame comments — took a hidden weakness and plopped a humongous national spotlight on it for the college basketball world to glare at. Aside from talks of Calipari jumping ship, harping on Tshiebwe's poor defense was certainly in vogue. 

Slowly, very...slowly, Kentucky shook off the rubble it had previously covered itself with on multiple occasions, making the climb out of the hole and off of the NCAA Tournament bubble. 

Neither of those things appeared possible, but perhaps one of the catalysts to both eventually occurring is the progression of Tshiebwe as a defender. Specifically on ball screens. 

Spacing has improved, leading to him falling on an island significantly less. It's still not quite to his level he found last season, but after Saturday's 86-54 demolition of Auburn, progress was confirmed by Tigers' coach Bruce Pearl. 

After taking a wrong turn to get to the podium to speak to the media, he dissected how Kentucky has gotten better in his eyes, including a nod to Tshiebwe and the ball-screen debacle that has clouded the big man's season in some facets:

"Guys are really comfortable in the roles. Tshiebwe’s playing dominant on the inside. We thought we could score on him a little bit and hurt him a little bit in the ball screen. But he did a nice job there," Pearl said. 

Not an homage to Tshiebwe, not labeling him an amazing defender, but a positive take nonetheless. Granted, it would be hypocritical for Pearl to be negative about UK after just losing to it by 32. 

It wasn't an amazing start for the Wildcat center, though, as Auburn forward Johni Broome got off to a hot start, drilling a 3-pointer in the face of the NPOY, then going to work in the post for a couple of easy finishes with the left hand. 

Thanks to some defensive adjustments and some foul trouble for Broome, that was quickly nipped in the bud, as the Morehead State transfer finished with only 12 points after scoring seven in the opening minutes. 

Without Broome continuously clicking, AU guards Wendell Green Jr, Zep Jasper, K.D. Johnson and others were unable to function properly, unable to get Tshiebwe spinning in ball screens the way Pearl wanted them to. 

It led to the Cats laying down the hammer in the second half, leading by as much as 40 with less than three minutes to go. After the fact, Calipari posed a question to reporters:

"Oscar, can you see he's getting his confidence back?

Tshiebwe admitted that while he tries to block out all the noise, he was bugged by the constant chatter surrounding his ability to deal with the pick-and-roll:

"It was killing me," he said. "I talk to God all the time, I said 'God, what are these people talking about? I can guard pick-and-roll.' 

As it turns out, the man upstairs knows a thing or two. 

 "They can't guard me." I talked to God. He told me, 'Oscar, you are unstoppable. Go out there and dominate.'"

Dominate he did, to the tune of a game-high 22 points and 17 rebounds, his 44th double-double as a Wildcat, placing him in sole possession of third place all-time in that category. On the defensive end? A block and two steals. 

"We need to enjoy what he's doing because it's just not normal. He's doing some stuff that's outrageous," Calipari said. 

Kentucky guards Cason Wallace and Antonio Reeves both touched on Tshiebwe's improvement as a defender over the course of the season after the Tiger-trouncing.

"He's been making big strides. You know, one thing we've been talking about is having active hands in the pick-and-rolls, and he got a few steals tonight doing that," Wallace said. 

"We emphasize that to him like every practice," Reeves added. "On the ball screens and stuff, you have to get higher, you have to touch your guy, things like that. Oscar, he really understands what's going on. With that alone, it makes our defense even better." 

Of the many things that Kentucky has succeeded in fixing over the past couple of weeks, Tshiebwe's ability as a defender could be at the top of the list, in terms of importance. He'll face ball screens for the remainder of the season, but the magnifying glass that analyzes his every move as an opposing guard sets a pick has gone away. 

"Right now, everybody just wants to win," Tshiebwe stated with a smile. 

More on the win over Auburn HERE.

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