Otega Oweh has been the engine driving Kentucky basketball this season - and it’s not even close. The Wildcats’ top returning player has elevated his game in conference play, putting together a streak of four straight 20-point outings in SEC action. As Kentucky heads into a high-stakes road matchup against Tennessee, all eyes are on Oweh to keep that fire burning.
But for all of Oweh’s individual brilliance, Kentucky’s biggest challenge hasn’t been talent - it’s been timing. The Wildcats have developed a troubling pattern of sluggish starts, digging themselves into early holes that require second-half heroics to escape. That was the case again at LSU, where Kentucky managed just 22 points in the first half and trailed by 18 early in the second.
Oweh, who revealed he was battling the flu during that LSU game but is now back to full strength, made it clear during Friday’s press conference: the slow starts have to stop.
“We’re going to start with that intensity from the jump,” he said. “I feel like we know now we have something to build on.
We got our first road win, so we know what it takes. We can’t get down early.
I feel like we just have to translate that same intensity we had in the second half to tomorrow.”
That second-half push in Baton Rouge was impressive, but Oweh knows the Wildcats can’t keep playing from behind - especially not against a team like Tennessee on the road. He pointed to leadership as the key to flipping the script early.
“I think it starts with me and D.A. (Denzel Aberdeen), us being the older guys in the starting lineup,” Oweh said.
“I think we’ve just got to get off on a way better start offensively, we’ve got to start sharper. The intensity has to be how it is when we played in the second half (at LSU).
We’ve just got to adjust it, really, that’s all it is.”
Kentucky’s track record backs up Oweh’s urgency. In their first SEC road game at Alabama, the Wildcats fell behind early and never found their footing.
The same story played out in a neutral-site loss to Gonzaga in Nashville. Even at home against Mississippi State, Kentucky trailed by a dozen points before storming back to win by 24 - a testament to their talent, but also a reminder of the margin for error shrinking in SEC play.
The Wildcats have the tools to be dangerous, and with Oweh leading the way, they’ve got a scorer who can take over games. But if Kentucky wants to be taken seriously in March, they’ll need to match that second-half energy from the opening tip - starting today in Knoxville.