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Tshiebwe: ‘I Did Not Want To Put That Jersey On,’ Accuses Huggins of Trying to Ruin His Life

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Former West Virginia player, and now Kentucky forward Oscar Tshiebwe went after WVU head coach Bob Huggins in an article written by Kyle Tucker of The Athletic. Tshiebwe told Tucker that he did not want to put the West Virginia jersey on and that Huggins was trying to ruin his life once he entered the transfer portal back in January.

Tshiebwe played 41 career games with the Mountaineers from 2019-20.

“When there’s something in your heart that you’re holding and you can’t let it go, I did not want to put that [West Virginia] jersey on,” Tshiebwe said.

Tshiebwe goes on to talk about how Huggins told him he was going to attempt to ruin his life. The 6-foot-9 forward says that Huggins claimed he smoked weed and had a lot of women to NBA general managers and Kentucky head coach John Calipari.

“God heard my cry for help and he said, get your stuff. It was a tough decision to leave. People say, You’re ruining your life. People say, ‘If you make that decision, you’re done.’ Coach [Bob Huggins] told me he was going to ruin my life if I did that,” Tshiebwe told The Athletic. “He was going to say all these different things to NBA GMs so nobody would ever want me. He said a lot of negative things about me to Coach [John] Calipari. He said I got caught smoking weed. He said I got caught with a lot of different women. Crazy stuff I didn’t know about.”

Tucker was able to get a response from Huggins to which the future Hall of Fame coach says he never said those claims. Huggins goes on to say that he would take a lie detector test.

“I don’t know why Oscar would ever bring up something that didn’t happen. Because the truth of the matter is there’s a whole lot of people who could get drug through the mud. He got what he wanted,” Huggins’ response to The Athletic. “I never tried to stop him. I never called him and said, ‘Hey, man, you’re making a mistake.’ None of that. Absolutely none of that. I did not speak to the kid. I can take a lie detector.”

Tshiebwe is in his first season at Kentucky, after leaving West Virginia in January. The Congo native is averaging 16.3 points, 14.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.9 blocks through nine games with the Wildcats.

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