Mark Pope raves about Otega Oweh skillset, room for growth

Kentucky guard Otega Oweh revealed on Wednesday that he will be forgoing the 2025 NBA Draft and returning to college for his fourth and final season of college basketball. Oweh is just one of four 2025 All-SEC selections returning to the conference for the 2025-26 season (Oweh, Mississippi State‘s Josh Hubbard, Florida‘s Alex Condon and Missouri‘s Mark Mitchell).

As a junior at Kentucky last season, Oweh led the ‘Cats in scoring (16.2) and steals (1.6) and was second on the team in rebounding (4.7). Head coach Mark Pope raved about Oweh’s skillset and room for growth earlier this month.

“Otega’s physicality is elite,” Pope said with a smile on his face. “His physicality on the offensive and defensive end. That shows up in a lot of ways. It shows up in contact, he actually hits. It shows up in his explosiveness. It shows up in his first step. It shows up in his ability to navigate guarding guys off the ball through screens and on the ball through screens by creating space with his chest. In those ways, he is as good as you’re going to find. He’s really special.”

Oweh’s defensive potential is through the roof

Defensively, the Oklahoma transfer emerged as one of Kentucky’s best on-ball defenders last season. Along with leading all Wildcats in steals, Oweh also recorded 0.5 blocks per game.

“He grew so much last season in terms of kind of winning the point of attack over and over, whether it was on the ball or off the ball defensively,” Pope said. “Like all of us though, he has so much room to grow. I think his ceiling as a playmaker, he hasn’t even begun to tap into that. I think he can become an elite, elite level playmaker. Something he’s talked a lot about is his ability to get his shot off more quickly. He shot the ball really well last year at 36-37 percent from three. But to get it off quicker and get more attempts I think is a big deal for him. On the defensive end, his ability to kind of neutralize bigs on the glass and bigs in switches is a place where he can really excel.”

Oweh will likely be in the running for SEC Preseason Player of the Year, as he rejoins a re-loaded roster constructed by Pope this offseason. According to On3’s College Basketball Team Transfer Portal Rankings, Kentucky brought in the No. 2 ranked class in the country.

“I think he has a chance to grow into one of the elite steals guys in the country,” an excited Pope said. “He’s got a ton of room to grow but he’s an unbelievable player who had a great season last year and he’s fun to talk about.”