What’s No. 7 Alabama’s Plan for Oscar Tshiebwe?

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — There are two players from the SEC that made an appearance on the midseason watch list for the 2023 Wooden Award.

Those two are Alabama guard Brandon Miller and Kentucky forward Oscar Tshiebwe — and the two will meet on Saturday at Coleman Coliseum.

The players couldn’t be any more different. Miller is an all-around elite scorer, and is soon to be a first round pick after one year of college basketball. Tshiebwe has been in college basketball since 2019 — for two different schools — and has become one of the better, more recognizable players of the last decade. He was a big reason that the Wildcats (10-4, 1-1 SEC) began the season at No. 4 in the AP poll.

“We’ve played some good bigs,” head coach Nate Oats said. “Now we’ve got the returning national player of the year. […] We’ve got to have more than Charles [Bediako] ready to go against him.”

His dominance in the paint is almost unheard of. This season, Tshiebwe is averaging 16.8 points and 13.8 rebounds per game. His near 14 rebounds per contest is good enough for first in the entire country — his 15.1 rebounds per game last season were the most of any player in 2021-22.

Tshiebwe has become the standard in the sport for rebounding. It’s not a surprise to anyone when he grabs 20 or more in a single game. More than often, when the ball hits the rim, he is in the right position to bring it in. Truly, Tshiebwe is a force on the glass — a game wrecker if you will.

Similar to Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, who scored 29 points on Alabama on Dec. 17, Tshiebwe’s positioning and footwork under the basket is unmatched.

To go along with that, he is determined. Night in and night out, Tshiebwe outworks everyone else on the basketball court.

“If we’re expecting [Bediako] or [Noah] Clowney or [Nick] Pringle to be able to keep Tshiebwe off the glass one-on-one by themselves, it’s going to be a long night for us,” Oats said. “We’ve got to have guards, wings get in and help rebound the ball. It’s got to be a five-person effort.”

In two games last season, Tshiebwe averaged 15.5 points and 14.5 rebounds against the Crimson Tide — and took home victories in both. Now as one of the better rebounding teams in the country, Alabama is more well-equipped to hang with him. So how does the seventh-ranked Crimson Tide (12-2, 2-0 SEC) plan on stopping Tshiebwe — or at least slowing him down — this time around?

“We obviously don't want him to get a bunch of touches,” Oats said. “The more he catches the ball in the post, the more problems it’s going to be for us.”

“He’s a good player,” forward Charles Bediako said. “[He’s] always moving — he never takes any breaks. He knows how to work his angles.”

Tipoff between No. 7 Alabama and Kentucky at Coleman Coliseum is set for Saturday, Jan. 7 at noon CT on ESPN.

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