Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
"O" My – Tshiebwe Hammers Longhorns With Indescribable Dunk
January 21, 2020 02:36 PM | Men's Basketball, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Back in the day, they used to say that James "Cool Papa" Bell was so fast that he was once called out when a ball he hit up the middle struck him as he was sliding into second base.
Bob Huggins joked earlier this year that Oscar Tshiebwe was fast enough to beat the arrows his father shot at wild animals when Oscar was a young boy growing up in The Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Well, seeing what Oscar did last night against Texas, I almost believe Huggs.
You can now file Oscar's length-of-the-floor pursuit of the basketball and one-handed tomahawk dunk against the Longhorns with some of the most iconic displays of pure athleticism in Mountaineer basketball lore.
Everybody remembers Joe Alexander's slam against Connecticut in the 2008 Big East Tournament, or the soaring dunk he had against Auburn earlier that season when his right elbow was well above the rim.
Devin Ebanks' breakaway tomahawk against No. 2 Pitt in the 2009 Big East Tournament certainly makes the list, as does Sagaba Konate's two-handed block against Kansas.
Years ago, when I was a WVU student, I can remember a hustling Chris Brooks jumping up and blocking from behind a Brian Williams breakaway dunk attempt in a blowout victory over Maryland at the Coliseum that demonstrated his amazing athletic ability.
They used to say Carey Bailey could grab a quarter off the top of the backboard and way, way back in the day, some of the things Jerry West used to do from the left side of the wing soaring to the rim were beyond anything anyone had ever seen at the time.
And now, we've got this from the Big O:
Are you kidding me?
There are maybe a handful of people on the planet fast enough to cover the length of the floor to run down that bounding basketball. But then to turn around, take one dribble from the end line and throw it down is just ridiculous.
That's roughly how teammate Jordan McCabe described it during his postgame testimony.
"The quick breakdown is he chased the ball down three-quarter court when it was probably 25, 30-feet ahead of him rolling full speed," McCabe began. "To be honest, it was off them, so we were telling Oscar 'no, no, no' and he kept running. I think he was running too fast to hear anything at that point.
"So he picks it up in the corner, takes one dribble and I'm thinking, 'Okay, he's going to get fouled and go to the line' and then he puts it on the guy's head. I don't know how else to explain it to you," he said.
Asked about it afterward, the big guy just shrugged and flashed an ear-to-ear grin.
"When I saw him throw the ball back in the court and I looked at the ball and nobody was chasing it, I was like, 'I'm running. I'm going to try and go get it.' I tried and I got it," Tshiebwe explained. "When I looked back and nobody was there I was like, 'I'm going to dunk the ball.' So it was one dribble and dunk the ball."
"It was the most sick athletic play I've ever seen," McCabe added. "It was indescribable. People can say, 'Oh, he just picked it up and dunked it' but no, that was unreal. He displayed every kind of athleticism right there.
"Must be nice."
It was nice.
When you see plays like that you immediately look at the reactions of the people around him. Fortunately, our Grant Dovey has enough camera operators deployed at home games for us to be able to see the clips instantaneously on social media, which I did.
The clip above comes from Taylor Brown.
Of course, Oscar's teammates were jumping up and down and celebrating on the bench like they got all six numbers right in the Pick 6 lottery.
There was Chase Harler plopping back down in his chair in a catatonic trance.
And then there was 11-year basketball aide Jay Kuntz shaking his head in disbelief. He was the guy with the clipboard down on one knee about to grab the basketball because he thought for sure it was rolling out of bounds. Then, he looked up at the last moment, saw Tshiebwe coming at him full speed and pulled his hand back in the nick of time.
In an instant, Tshiebwe pounced on the ball before it could touch the blue paint, turned around and soared like an eagle to the basket. In the meantime, Kuntz put one hand behind his head and glanced back at the trail official like he'd just seen a ghost.
Then there was the old ball coach standing along the sideline, one hand in his pocket, with a smirk on his face looking like the cat who had just swallowed the canary.
He's seen these types of plays before from some of the athletic freaks he's had at Cincinnati through the years.
Well, he's got another one here at West Virginia!
Bob Huggins joked earlier this year that Oscar Tshiebwe was fast enough to beat the arrows his father shot at wild animals when Oscar was a young boy growing up in The Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Well, seeing what Oscar did last night against Texas, I almost believe Huggs.
You can now file Oscar's length-of-the-floor pursuit of the basketball and one-handed tomahawk dunk against the Longhorns with some of the most iconic displays of pure athleticism in Mountaineer basketball lore.
Everybody remembers Joe Alexander's slam against Connecticut in the 2008 Big East Tournament, or the soaring dunk he had against Auburn earlier that season when his right elbow was well above the rim.
Devin Ebanks' breakaway tomahawk against No. 2 Pitt in the 2009 Big East Tournament certainly makes the list, as does Sagaba Konate's two-handed block against Kansas.
Years ago, when I was a WVU student, I can remember a hustling Chris Brooks jumping up and blocking from behind a Brian Williams breakaway dunk attempt in a blowout victory over Maryland at the Coliseum that demonstrated his amazing athletic ability.
They used to say Carey Bailey could grab a quarter off the top of the backboard and way, way back in the day, some of the things Jerry West used to do from the left side of the wing soaring to the rim were beyond anything anyone had ever seen at the time.
And now, we've got this from the Big O:
Here is the play of the game! Thanks to our Taylor Brown for getting the clip @WVUhoops @wvusports pic.twitter.com/nTvSjwUU9W
— John Antonik (@JohnAntonik) January 21, 2020
Are you kidding me?
There are maybe a handful of people on the planet fast enough to cover the length of the floor to run down that bounding basketball. But then to turn around, take one dribble from the end line and throw it down is just ridiculous.
That's roughly how teammate Jordan McCabe described it during his postgame testimony.
"The quick breakdown is he chased the ball down three-quarter court when it was probably 25, 30-feet ahead of him rolling full speed," McCabe began. "To be honest, it was off them, so we were telling Oscar 'no, no, no' and he kept running. I think he was running too fast to hear anything at that point.
"So he picks it up in the corner, takes one dribble and I'm thinking, 'Okay, he's going to get fouled and go to the line' and then he puts it on the guy's head. I don't know how else to explain it to you," he said.
Asked about it afterward, the big guy just shrugged and flashed an ear-to-ear grin.
"When I saw him throw the ball back in the court and I looked at the ball and nobody was chasing it, I was like, 'I'm running. I'm going to try and go get it.' I tried and I got it," Tshiebwe explained. "When I looked back and nobody was there I was like, 'I'm going to dunk the ball.' So it was one dribble and dunk the ball."
"It was the most sick athletic play I've ever seen," McCabe added. "It was indescribable. People can say, 'Oh, he just picked it up and dunked it' but no, that was unreal. He displayed every kind of athleticism right there.
"Must be nice."
It was nice.
When you see plays like that you immediately look at the reactions of the people around him. Fortunately, our Grant Dovey has enough camera operators deployed at home games for us to be able to see the clips instantaneously on social media, which I did.
The clip above comes from Taylor Brown.
Of course, Oscar's teammates were jumping up and down and celebrating on the bench like they got all six numbers right in the Pick 6 lottery.
There was Chase Harler plopping back down in his chair in a catatonic trance.
And then there was 11-year basketball aide Jay Kuntz shaking his head in disbelief. He was the guy with the clipboard down on one knee about to grab the basketball because he thought for sure it was rolling out of bounds. Then, he looked up at the last moment, saw Tshiebwe coming at him full speed and pulled his hand back in the nick of time.
In an instant, Tshiebwe pounced on the ball before it could touch the blue paint, turned around and soared like an eagle to the basket. In the meantime, Kuntz put one hand behind his head and glanced back at the trail official like he'd just seen a ghost.
Then there was the old ball coach standing along the sideline, one hand in his pocket, with a smirk on his face looking like the cat who had just swallowed the canary.
He's seen these types of plays before from some of the athletic freaks he's had at Cincinnati through the years.
Well, he's got another one here at West Virginia!
Players Mentioned
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