Oscar Tshiebwe relishes rematch against Kansas, Udoka Azubuike

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The first meeting between Udoka Azubuike and Oscar Tshiebwe four years ago was one that basically saw Tshiebwe viewing the game from the sidelines in awe.

“I was just a freshman in high school when we played him,” Tshiebwe said. “I didn’t play very much. I only played five or six minutes. He was already a senior. He was very good and pretty experienced.”

Tshiebwe was at Mountain Mission (Va.) and Azubuike was a four-star prospect playing for Potter’s House Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Fla., after moving there from Lagos, Nigeria.

At that time, Tshiebwe had just moved to the United States from the Democratic Republic of Congo, about 1,400 miles east of Azubuike’s hometown.

Their second meeting came earlier this season, a 60-53 victory by the third-ranked Jayhawks (20-3, 9-1 Big 12), in which Azubuike had 17 points and 11 rebounds, but came away with some mutual respect for West Virginia’s freshman forward, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the first half and finished with 17 points and 17 rebounds.

“Oscar, he’s a grown man. I’ve never played against somebody like that,” Azubuike said after the game. “He’s hard to move in the paint. Really physical, really strong. I told him, first time playing him, I tried to box him out and he wasn’t moving.”

The college rematch comes at 7 p.m. Wednesday, and it’s a game the 14th-ranked Mountaineers (18-5, 6-4) need coming off a difficult 69-59 road loss at Oklahoma on Saturday.

“This may be my last chance going up against him,” Tshiebwe said. “I’ve got to make a story. I want him to say something good about me again, but I don’t want it to be like the last game.”

Neither do the Mountaineers, who could only watch as Kansas took control of the game in the second half through guards penetrating into the lane, which led to easy lob dunks for Azubuike.

“There’s no set number of what they go for,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said in defending Kansas’ lob play. “It’s basically (Devon) Dotson setting it all up. It helps to have a 7-footer down there, too. They’re trying to get the defense to help up and that happens, because of penetration.”

Dotson and Marcus Garrett combined for eight assists in the first game, most of it by driving into the lane and setting up Azubuike with the lobs.

“They do a great job of keeping the floor spaced out, which helps in creating space for their guards to drive,” WVU guard Chase Harler said.

When that happens, it’s hard for defenders like Tshiebwe or Derek Culver to fight their natural instinct to step in and take away what could be an easy lay-up.

“It’s kind of hard to go against instinct,” Harler continued. “We’ve been running drills this week to help our bigs from helping up. The coaches have done a good job in trying to get that point across.”

Tshiebwe had it happen to him a few times in that second half against the Jayhawks. He said that experience will help him the second time around.

“We really talked about it (Tuesday) during the film session,” Tshiebwe said. “If I’m guarding Azubuike, the coaches told me that I don’t have that much help. If I leave him, they’re going to throw the lob.

“If I do help, then I have to make sure somebody is there to help me. We have to move really quick.”

And as much as Tshiebwe or Culver can look bad as defenders on the back end of the play, whether or not Kansas can pull it off actually begins with West Virginia’s guards.

“We have to be disciplined and not let them drive,” Tshiebwe said. “Coaches have been telling us that we can be really good when we move our feet. If we don’t move our feet, we can’t guard anybody.

“The guards have to do a good job of not letting them in. If we keep them from going to the rim, we can make the game a lot easier.”

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