After a record-setting junior campaign that saw him become the first SEC player to start a season with 26 straight double-digit scoring games, Otega Oweh entered this year with the spotlight firmly fixed on him. He wasn’t just another returning senior-he was the SEC Preseason Player of the Year, the centerpiece of Kentucky’s national title aspirations, and the player head coach Mark Pope openly leaned on to lead the charge.
But when the lights came on, things didn’t go according to script.
Kentucky stumbled out of the gate, and Oweh was right there in the middle of it. The Wildcats dropped every marquee matchup early-Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Gonzaga-and each loss chipped away at the confidence of a team still trying to find its identity.
The low point came in early December, when Gonzaga handed Kentucky a humbling 35-point loss in Nashville. That one hurt.
“It was nasty, obviously, because it was the fourth one that we had dropped,” Oweh said. “We were just embarrassed as a group.”
For a player who had come into the season with so much expectation-and pride-the blowout was a wake-up call. Oweh returned to Lexington determined to flip the script, and according to Coach Pope, that’s exactly what he did. The very next practice was, in Pope’s words, Oweh’s best in two years with the program.
The results followed fast.
In the next game, Oweh broke the 20-point mark for the first time all season. Since then, he’s hit that number seven times, raising his scoring average from 13.7 points over the first nine games to 18 per game over the last 11. In SEC play, he’s been even better-averaging 19.7 points and setting the tone on both ends of the floor.
“We just got to be tired of the same thing of just going out there and not having good energy,” Oweh said. “That’s on me. I feel I got to be the leader in that department.”
That leadership has shown up in big moments. Five of his 20-point games have come in SEC play, including a season-high 23 in Saturday’s 72-63 win over Ole Miss-a victory that marked Kentucky’s fifth straight.
After the game, Pope was asked about Oweh’s roller-coaster season. His response said a lot about both the player and the team.
“You said that he fell short a little bit in the first half of the season and that he's been really good in the second half. I appreciate you saying that because that's the hallmark of this team, that's what we do,” Pope said. “Maybe we have taken on that DNA.
“Listen, a season is a living, breathing thing,” he continued. “Everybody, even a veteran like Otega, is facing new challenges and new dynamics and having to understand the game in a different way. I love learners, and I feel like he's been an amazing learner this season-and that’s hard to do as a senior, but man, he's on a run.”
Oweh’s resurgence hasn’t just been about scoring. It’s been about energy, intention, and setting the tone for a team that’s found its rhythm at just the right time. He’s embraced the responsibility of being the emotional engine for Kentucky, and the team has followed his lead.
“I have to do better playing with a super high motor, super intentional, and keeping the intensity high,” Oweh said. “I'm trying to set the tone. I feel like when my energy is high, I feel like we're better.”
Since that blowout loss to Gonzaga, Kentucky has gone 10-2. The turnaround has been real-and Oweh saw it coming.
“I feel everything happens for a reason,” he said in the days after that game. “And I believe this is gonna be one of the most remembered years for all of us because we're going to turn it around. It wasn't the prettiest start, but it's gonna end up being the best year.”
Right now, that belief is starting to look like reality.