Oscar Tshiebwe’s debut: A miss and then a hit with a double-double

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Oscar Tshiebwe’s opening impression to college basketball was coming up short on a coast-to-coast dunk attempt.

It only got better from there.

The former McDonald’s All-American and five-star recruit finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, but his Blue team was on the short end of a 67-54 scrimmage against a Gold team that featured 18 points from junior-college transfer Taz Sherman and 15 points from Jermaine Haley.

“The Blue gets outrebounded,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “How do you get outrebounded when you have Derek (Culver) and Oscar on the same team? Oscar held his end up with 11. Derek getting three, that’s not good enough.”

Tshiebwe’s ability is unquestioned, but in certain sets, teammates would tap him on the hip to help point him in the right direction.

“The thing about Oscar is he really wants to be good,” Huggins said. “Oscar is not adverse to getting practice tape and he’ll get this tape and learn from it without someone having to coach him through it.”

Huggins said Tshiebwe is slowed down now from having to think his way through offensive sets, but that will change.

“That’s the beauty of doing it over and over and over again, it becomes a pattern,” Huggins said. “You don’t really think about it, you just do it. Obviously he hasn’t had to do that, because he was so much bigger and stronger than the high school kids. He overpowered them.”

The 6-foot-9, 258-pound Tshiebwe has an infectious personality, one that quickly rubbed off on his teammates this summer.

“Oscar has always had that energy and that little fun side to him,” Emmitt Matthews Jr. said. “It literally took him no time to fit in. From the day he got here to right now, he’s been the same guy. He’s outgoing and fun. In practice, he’ll say something funny and we try not to laugh, because we don’t want to get in trouble for clowning around. He’s a fun guy and he loves playing basketball and he loves being here.”

Huggs speaks

Huggins addressed the crowd with the revelation that his players didn’t know their coach’s playing history when Huggins was at WVU in the 1970s.

“They didn’t know I was a two-time academic All-American,” Huggins told the crowd. “You would think with my extensive vocabulary they would know that.”

Huggs also noted that the Mountaineers will play in the WVU Coliseum 18 times this season.

“Let’s fill it up 18 times,” he said. “It’s been a few years since we’ve hung a banner. Let’s go win a championship.”

Bridges is a fast learner

Former Fairmont Senior standout Jalen Bridges played 25 minutes in one of the few times he’ll see action this season.

The plan for the 6-7 freshman forward is to redshirt, meaning he’ll be unable to play during the regular season. He is eligible to play in the charity exhibition game against Duquesne on Nov. 1 and he’s already opened some eyes with his ability to pick up West Virginia’s system.

“He picks up on things so fast already. It’s just crazy,” said WVU forward Logan Routt, who redshirted as a freshman. “He has this whole year to improve. It’s scary, because after this year, you don’t know what he’s going to be able to do. He has a good frame and he’s long. He’ll have the whole year to be in the weight room and be on the floor for us.”

Bridges scored four points on 1-of-7 shooting. He nailed a 3-pointer from the corner and added three rebounds.

Other standouts

Sherman led all scorers with 18 points and was 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Sean McNeil scored eight points on 2-of-4 shooting from behind the arc.

They may be the Mountaineers’ top two options on whether or not WVU is a good shooting team this season.

“I think they are our two best shooters,” Huggins said. “We’re going to end up playing three guards. Taz is 6-3 and Sean is pretty strong. Taz can shoot it. You get 26 a game in the (junior college) league he played in, you can score.”

Routt added 12 points and six rebounds for the Gold and Gabe Osabuohien added seven points and eight rebounds. Osabuohien, a transfer from Arkansas, may have to sit out this season unless he is granted a waiver from the NCAA for immediate eligibility.

Culver added 15 points for the Blue and Matthews added eight points and five rebounds for the Blue.

Injury note

Huggins said senior guard Chase Harler is dealing with back issues, but is practicing through the pain on a daily basis.

“He’s tried to go, but it’s bothered him for the last three days,” Huggins said. “We’ve got to get him healed up. He does too many good things on the floor.”

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