One day before stepping onto the Lloyd Noble Center court—a place he called home for two seasons—Otega Oweh admitted he wasn’t sure what kind of reaction to expect.
Having spent the first two years of his college career with Oklahoma, Oweh was now suiting up for Kentucky. Would the same fans who once cheered for him now turn on him?
“I honestly don’t know,” he said Tuesday.
Pressed for a prediction, he smiled and shrugged. “I really can’t say,” he replied, drawing laughter.
“But either way, I’m excited to get back out there.”
By Wednesday night, Oweh stood at the free-throw line with the game tied at 75 and just under three minutes left. The crowd, which had jeered him relentlessly all night, made their feelings clear.
“Traitor! Traitor!” they chanted.
Oweh calmly knocked down the first free throw.
“Traitor! Traitor!” the crowd continued.
He sank the second.
While those weren’t the game’s final points, and Oweh still had more work to do, that moment captured his mindset. Nothing was going to stop him from securing this win.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Oweh said afterward. “But once you’re playing, none of that matters. It’s just basketball and doing what you can to win.”
Kentucky likely wouldn’t have pulled off the 83-82 victory without him. He was coming off his worst performance of the season—just two points in a loss to Alabama—but he was determined to bounce back, regardless of the opponent. That opponent just happened to be his former team.
From the opening tip, the Oklahoma crowd booed him every time he touched the ball. As the game tightened, the intensity of those jeers grew. That’s when Oweh took over.
Midway through the second half, Amari Williams threw down a dunk to give Kentucky a three-point lead. After that, no other Wildcat made a field goal.
A few minutes later, Lamont Butler hit a pair of free throws to trim Oklahoma’s lead to 68-65. From that point on, Oweh was the only Wildcat to score.
“Otega came up huge,” said Oklahoma coach Porter Moser, who had recruited him out of high school and helped shape his game before Oweh opted for a fresh start at Kentucky.
Oweh wasn’t just willing his team forward—he was putting on a show.
Oklahoma made nine straight shots at one point, but Kentucky stayed within striking distance. Then, Oweh soared for a fast-break dunk to tie the game with seven minutes left.
From there, he put on a dazzling display of footwork, finishing at the rim with a combination of spins, acrobatic layups, and aggressive drives—sometimes all in the same play.
Butler, just back from injury, fouled out with four minutes remaining. Jaxson Robinson, another key player returning from a wrist injury, sat out the second half. Williams and Andrew Carr battled foul trouble.
None of that mattered. Kentucky had Oweh.
“I just wanted to impose my will,” he said.
He did exactly that.
With time winding down, he hit a floater to put Kentucky ahead, but Oklahoma responded with a three-pointer. Oweh missed a deep shot of his own, but moments later, Williams found him under the basket for an easy layup. Kentucky led, 81-80.
“Otega—hats off to him,” Moser said. “He had a phenomenal game, made some really tough shots, and we just couldn’t stop him.”
But the drama wasn’t over.
Oklahoma’s Jalon Moore, a former teammate of Oweh’s, drained two free throws to reclaim the lead with 20 seconds left. Oweh still considers Moore and his other old teammates “brothers,” but once the game started, friendship was set aside.
With no timeouts, Kentucky turned to freshman Travis Perry to bring the ball up the court. He dribbled before handing it off to Oweh, who momentarily bobbled it before regaining control.
He drove left, then pivoted back to his right, creating space before launching a running shot while falling to the floor.
It dropped through the net.
Kentucky 83, Oklahoma 82.
On the other end, Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears had one last chance, but Oweh partially deflected his shot. Brandon Garrison got a bigger piece of it, and Koby Brea secured the rebound as time expired.
When the dust settled, Oweh had poured in a career-high 28 points, including Kentucky’s final 18.
“That’s crazy,” he said when informed of that stat. It was the first time he’d heard it.
Oweh had delivered a statement performance against his former team. Garrison, an Oklahoma native, played one of his best games in front of family and friends. Robinson struggled, but in the end, the Wildcats got the job done.
Now 19-9 overall and 8-7 in the SEC, Kentucky continued solidifying its NCAA Tournament résumé. Projected as a No. 3 seed, the Wildcats secured yet another key road win.
One of Oweh’s main reasons for transferring to Kentucky was to increase his chances of playing in March Madness—a goal that seemed out of reach at Oklahoma.
That opportunity is now just three weeks away.
With three regular-season games left—starting with a showdown against top-ranked Auburn—Kentucky is eyeing the postseason.
“This had all the makings of an NCAA Tournament game,” head coach Mark Pope said. “All the intensity, all the weirdness of these guys coming back home, all the adversity.
“And our guys just rallied. We’re trying to build on that as we head into March.”
