What did the Kentucky Wildcats witness from Oscar Tshiebwe on Tuesday? ‘It’s unspeakable.’

The newcomers to this Kentucky basketball team had seen the stats and heard the stories, but they’d yet to see for themselves. Sure, Oscar Tshiebwe had put up some big numbers and made some impressive plays, but the reigning national player of the year had yet to do anything in year two with the Wildcats that quite lived up to the legend of last season.

Until Tuesday night.

“I ain’t never seen anything like that in my life,” said Antonio Reeves, who transferred to UK from Illinois State last offseason. “… That’s one of those things, I’m like, ‘Jesus Christ,’ you know? It’s crazy.”

What Reeves had just witnessed was an all-time performance by one of Kentucky’s most impressive players in memory. Tshiebwe scored 37 points, grabbed 24 rebounds and led the Cats to an 85-71 comeback victory over Georgia.

Freshman guard Cason Wallace was committed to Kentucky throughout last season, so he kept close tabs on the Cats as a high school senior back home in Texas. He saw plenty of amazing Tshiebwe performances on TV. He got an up-close look at greatness Tuesday night.

“It was different being out there and playing with him,” Wallace said. “You’re just playing, but you look up and he has the numbers that he has? It’s unspeakable.”

Tshiebwe’s previous career high was 30 points. He had done that three times as a Wildcat. He matched that number with nearly six minutes left in Tuesday’s game.

And, before this night, how many times in the past 45 years had a UK player recorded at least 24 rebounds in a single game? It had happened once. Last season, when Tshiebwe pulled down 28 boards in a victory over Western Kentucky.

With this performance, Tshiebwe joined Dan Issel and Cotton Nash as the only players in the history of the program to record at least 24 rebounds more than once.

“Oscar was playing a video game,” UK Coach John Calipari said afterward.

He must have put in a cheat code at halftime.

Tshiebwe played just fine in the opening 20 minutes. He had 14 points and nine rebounds at the break, but he was also 4-for-11 from the floor, often forcing shots at the rim or settling for long jumpers. And, more importantly, Kentucky trailed Georgia 42-34 at the break.

When the second half began, Tshiebwe pounded the Bulldogs in the paint.

He scored Kentucky’s first nine points out of the break, then chased down his own missed free throw, corralled the offensive rebound, and kicked the ball out to CJ Fredrick, who nailed a three-pointer to give the Cats a 46-45 advantage and get Rupp Arena rocking. It was just the second lead of the game for Kentucky — an 11-point favorite coming in — and the Wildcats pulled away a few minutes later to beat the Bulldogs and build on the momentum that started with that shocking victory at No. 5 Tennessee three days earlier.

The win over the Vols came after an even-more-shocking home loss to South Carolina, a team rated as the worst in the Southeastern Conference and a defeat that clearly rattled the Cats.

In the immediate aftermath of that loss, Tshiebwe — surrounded by reporters — questioned the “fight” of some of his teammates and at one point suggested that maybe some of UK’s walk-ons should play in place of scholarship Wildcats.

Those comments didn’t land well. Tshiebwe later apologized to his teammates.

Calipari has since said that the language barrier faced by Tshiebwe — a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo who moved to the United States as a teenager — can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. The Kentucky coach cut off a question on the topic Tuesday night.

“This kid will say stuff and doesn’t really know what that means,” Calipari explained. “Now, he’s very intelligent. How many languages? Like six. English is probably No. 6. … So sometimes he’ll do stuff like that, and he’ll feel bad. ‘Well I didn’t know it meant that.’ ‘Yeah, that’s what it means.’ He’s the greatest kid. …

“They wanted him to get 50. They want to win the game. We’re not playing for ourselves, we’re playing for each other now. And I will tell you that everybody was fine with it. You know why? Because they know him. And they know that he does that occasionally — like says stuff. Like, ‘Where did that come from?’”

Whatever angst might have followed that loss to South Carolina was replaced by awe Tuesday night. A stat line worth repeating: 37 points and 24 rebounds. Wallace said he’d never seen anything like it. “I don’t think that comes around too often.”

Calipari also said earlier this month that he had challenged Tshiebwe to get back in the gym. The Kentucky coach said he didn’t think his star player was putting as much time into his game as he had last season. And while the numbers were still great — 15.9 points and 13.1 rebounds per game coming into this one — something seemed a little off.

“Now you’re seeing him be how he was a year ago,” Calipari said. “Was he that way two weeks ago? No. That’s why I said what I said. Not to be disrespectful or talk down on Oscar. I love Oscar. He knows I love coaching him.”

Tshiebwe said Tuesday night that the preseason knee injury that required surgery and forced him to miss a month of practice — plus the Cats’ first two regular-season games — continued to linger deeper into Kentucky’s schedule. Tshiebwe felt good enough to play, he said, but he didn’t feel quite like himself. He said he wasn’t quite in the right place mentally — that he’d never had a surgery like that before and the effects caused him to second-guess his actions on the court. Instead of just playing — as he was used to — he would think twice when jumping and cutting.

Now, he said, he’s feeling like the Oscar Tshiebwe who dominated college basketball last season. Now, he said, he’s ready to move forward with this season and try to build on the momentum he and his teammates have found over the past week.

“Now,” he said, after Tuesday night’s career performance, “I’m back.”

Next game

Texas A&M at Kentucky

When: 2 p.m. Saturday

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Texas A&M 12-5 (4-0 SEC), Kentucky 12-6 (3-3 SEC)

Series: Kentucky leads 12-4

Last meeting: Kentucky won 64-58 on Jan. 19, 2022, in College Station, Texas

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John Calipari discusses Kentucky basketball’s second-half comeback against Georgia

First Scouting Report: Against Texas A&M, UK seeks to derail the SEC’s surprise team

A career night from Oscar Tshiebwe leads Kentucky to a comeback win over Georgia

Box score from Kentucky’s 85-71 win over Georgia on a colossal night for Oscar Tshiebwe