BREAKING: Oscar Tshiebwe Steps Away from WVU Program
West Virginia sophomore forward Oscar Tshiebwe has stepped away from the program due to personal reasons head coach Bob Huggins announced this morning in a press release.
“Oscar has our full support, and we certainly wish him the best during this time,” Huggins said.
This is a big hit to the West Virginia roster as they are already down one big with freshman Isaiah Cottrell being out for the season following his Achilles injury against Northeastern.
Tshiebwe came to Morgantown with extremely high expectations and was only the 2nd McDonald's All-American to sign with the Mountaineer program.
As a true freshman, Tshiebwe led the team in both scoring (11.2 ppg) and rebounding (9.3) and was named a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 Freshman Team and a member of the All-Big 12 Second Team.
Tshiebwe filed paperwork last year to be evaluated by NBA scouts and after he received some advice, he decided to return to West Virginia for his sophomore season. Many thought that with Tshiebwe coming back, this team could be a Final Four contender. Although the team has gotten off to an 8-2 start, Tshiebwe has struggled through the first ten games and has not looked anything like he did a year ago. He's not showing the same aggression, hasn't taken the ball up strong, hasn't run the floor, and at times, just turns routine plays into an error. Tshiebwe is averaging 8.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game and is shooting ten percentage points less than he did as a freshman.
Tshiebwe is not in the transfer portal at this time and there is no indication if his decision to "step away" is a temporary move or permanent.
***UPDATE: Moments ago, Bob Huggins stated in his press conference that Tshiebwe will "absolutely not" return to the program.***
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