Kentucky basketball superstar Oscar Tshiebwe is potentially the most dominant player in college basketball. The 2022 National Player of the Year and two-time All-American, Tshiebwe is a historically great rebounder, the rare player who can fundamentally transform a game through his hard work cleaning the glass. In Kentucky's 75-69 loss to Kansas State in the NCAA Tournament, Tshiebwe was as brilliant as ever, hammering Kansas State on the interior on his way to 25 points and 18 rebounds. Tshiebwe was unstoppable, but still ended up playing into the game plan of Jerome Tang and Kansas State basketball.
“We knew Oscar was going to get his,” Jerome Tang explained in his press conference after Kansas State basketball's surprising win against Kentucky. “We had to control everybody else.”
As such, Kansas State was able to weather Tshiebwe's monster performance and emerge victorious on the other side. Rather than try to do the impossible feet of shutting Oscar Tshiebwe down, Kansas State focused their attention on limiting opportunities for the rest of the Tshiebwe's supporting cast. Antonio Reeves, Kentucky's second leading scorer with 14.6 per game, had the worst game of his college career, scoring just five points on 1-15 shooting. Similarly, Jacob Toppin, their third leading scorer with 12.7 points per game, managed just two points on 1-7 shooting. Outside of Tshiebwe, the rest of Kentucky's roster combined for only 44 points and made just 18 of their 50 shots. Even with Tshiebwe's masterclass in the paint, Kentucky turned the basketball over 16 times and made just four threes as Kansas State avoided double teaming Tshiebwe and forced Kentucky's guards to overextend themselves.
As evidenced by the fact that Kansas State is headed to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament while Kentucky is headed home, Tang's plan worked.
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