John Calipari defends Oscar Tshiebwe following petty remarks by Bob Huggins

In case you missed it, West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins made some rather unflattering comments about one of his former players, Oscar Tshiebwe, who left the Mountaineers midseason last year.

Tshiebwe ultimately would join the Kentucky Wildcats as arguably the biggest transfer of the 2020-21 cycle, and it’s paid off massively for John Calipari’s program. The 6-foot-9 Congolese forward currently leads all of Division I in rebounds per game, and he’s a big reason why Kentucky is a top 15 team that could end up making a deep NCAA Tournament run.

So as you can imagine, Huggins is extra salty about losing Tshiebwe, going as far as to accuse the big man of not willing to work hard.

Well, Calipari responded to those remarks following Kentucky’s win over the Ohio Bobcats.

“It’s hard to say he (Tshiebwe) doesn’t work hard. He’s averaging 20 rebounds per game,” the UK head coach said. “He works hard. And the biggest thing he can do, and you figured it out, the kid can also shoot.”

Calipari and Huggins are pals, so the former wasn’t about to rip his friend publicly, which is frankly the kind of maturity Huggins should have had with his thoughts on Tshiebwe.

Oh, and West Virginia lost 82-71 to Marquette. Hopefully, Huggins is extra, extra salty tonight.

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