Otega Oweh’s Breakout Season Hits Another Gear as He Claims SEC Co-Player of the Week
Otega Oweh is playing like a man on a mission - and the rest of the SEC is finding out the hard way.
After another dominant week on the court, the Kentucky guard was named SEC Co-Player of the Week, and honestly, it's starting to feel like he could win the honor on a loop. Just ask his head coach, Mark Pope.
“He could have won it every week of the entire SEC season,” Pope said during his Monday night radio show. “He’s been that good.”
And he’s not exaggerating. Oweh averaged 22.5 points over Kentucky’s wins against Oklahoma and Tennessee last week, shooting a scorching 60.7% from the field.
He added 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, but the numbers only tell part of the story. It’s the way he’s impacting the game - on both ends - that’s elevating him into elite territory.
Let’s start with the scoring. Oweh has now topped 20 points in nine of Kentucky’s 11 SEC games.
That includes a season-high 24 in a statement win over Oklahoma and 21 more in a gritty 74-71 upset of Tennessee. He’s not just putting up numbers - he’s doing it when it matters most, against top-tier competition.
But what’s got Pope and the Wildcats buzzing is how much Oweh has grown beyond just scoring. The coach lit up when talking about his guard’s evolution.
“We’ve seen such amazing growth in him,” Pope said. “We’ve seen him grow as a leader. We’ve seen him grow as a defender, especially as an on-ball defender.”
Pope pointed to Oweh’s improved decision-making as a game-changer. He’s reading the floor better, picking his spots, and extending plays with poise and patience - traits that don’t always show up in the box score but make a huge difference on the court.
“His ability to hit the short roll, his ability to get downhill, and then his willingness to play off two feet and extend the play - it’s all improved,” Pope said. “Sometimes I look out there over the last few weeks, and I’m like, ‘I don’t even know who this guy is.’ He’s so good.”
That growth was on full display late in the win over Tennessee. With the game in the balance, Oweh didn’t force the issue.
Instead, he made the right read, delivering a clutch assist to Collin Chandler for a go-ahead three. It was the kind of next-level play that separates good players from great ones.
“(He) made an unbelievable pass to Collin Chandler,” Pope recalled. “Those are the types of plays that you see from guys that are next-level players.”
Even his former coach, Porter Moser, had to tip his cap after facing him at Rupp Arena.
“Otega is just an elite player,” Moser said. “He can knock down the shot.
He puts you in a really tough decision-making mode off-ball screens, because he can turn the corner on you. Now he’s making really good decisions passing out of it.
I just see he’s becoming a complete player.”
Pope even drew a comparison to a Kentucky legend - Antoine Walker - when talking about Oweh’s all-around impact.
“There’s something similar between Otega Oweh and Antoine Walker,” Pope said. “There’s just something similar in terms of their impact on the game and their reliability, especially as Antoine got a little bit older.”
Walker was known for doing a little bit of everything - scoring, passing, rebounding, leading - and that’s the kind of versatility Oweh is starting to showcase on a nightly basis.
With 24 straight games in double figures and just five points shy of the 1,000-point milestone, Oweh’s ascent continues to gain momentum. He’s not just having a strong season - he’s turning into the kind of player who can carry a team deep into March.
And if he keeps this up? He might not just be the Co-Player of the Week. He could be the player everyone’s talking about when the SEC crowns its best at season’s end.