It all started with a picture. On Dec. 28, Kentucky went to Columbia, Missouri for its first SEC game of the season and turned in a clunker, losing to the Tigers 89-75. Waiting near the tunnel to the visitor’s locker room was 13-year-old Langsten Ratcliff, wearing a No. 34 Kentucky jersey and a blue headband, holding a sign that read, “Tshiebwe, I’m from the Congo too.”
Due to the circumstances, Langsten and Oscar Tshiebwe didn’t get to meet that day. Little did they know that a fellow Kentucky fan in the arena snapped Langsten’s picture, setting into motion a course of events that ended with the two finally meeting at Rupp Arena.