Indianapolis, Indiana – Oscar Tshiebwe has admittedly not had a great start to the 2020-2021 season. The sensational sophomore and former 5 star recruit is only averaging 7.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game while shooting 47.4% from the field.
This is not at all how Tshiebwe or anyone else surrounding the team expected his season to begin. An All Big 12 Conference second team member last season, Tshiebwe led the Mountaineers in both scoring (11.2 points per game) and rebounding (9.3 per game), and he was expected to have an even more productive sophomore season.
However, through three games, that simply has not been the case. Tshiebwe has scored 11 points, 5 points and 7 points in his three appearances so far, and in all three games Tshiebwe has gotten into early foul trouble and played limited first half minutes.
Following West Virginia’s victory in the championship of the Crossover Classic, Tshiebwe said the following: “It’s a good way to start but we have lot work to do. I struggled a little bit but it’s good to know what I need to work on.”
Since arriving back in Morgantown from South Dakota, Tshiebwe has no doubt spent countless hours in the gym and at the West Virginia practice facility polishing his game and preparing for an ultimate test against the top-ranked team in the country.
While Gonzaga has good size and a lot of talent in the interior, no one can in the entire country can match Tshiebwe’s physicality. If Tshiebwe can manage to stay out of foul trouble, Gonzaga’s bigs will have a very difficult time containing him.
Tonight, it is Oscar Tshiebwe’s time to shine! This is the perfect opportunity – in front of the whole world in prime time on national television – to prove that he’s one of the best big men in college basketball.
If the Mountaineers have a real shot to knock off the the top-ranked team in the country tonight, they’ll need a monster double-double effort from Oscar Tshiebwe and for him to perform in the incredible way that we know that he can.
