Mark Pope shares hilarious reaction to Otega Oweh returning to Kentucky

Otega Oweh shared the biggest news of the offseason for Kentucky, in one that’s had plenty of it in Lexington, with his announced return after testing for the 2025 NBA Draft. Mark Pope didn’t get to fully enjoy the news at first, though, because of where he was when the Wildcats’ guard told him.

During Father-Son Camp this weekend for UK, Oweh was mic’d up by the UK Sports Network. They’ve since shared a clip where Oweh asked Pope for his honest reaction when he said that he was withdrawing from the draft, to which Pope explained he was on a plane when that call from Oweh came through. However, once he landed, he was as glad as anyone to hear Oweh would be back in the bluegrass.

Want to know how Coach Pope found out Otega Oweh was coming back for Year 2 at Kentucky?

We’re dropping the full camp video with Otega later this week — don’t miss it! pic.twitter.com/0nqipI19zy

— UK Sports Network (@UKSportsNetwork) June 8, 2025

“Okay, so, first of all, I was on a plane. I was on a plane and I don’t understand why or how but the call actually came through. And so, Otega called me and he said, ‘Coach, let’s do this. I’m coming back’. And, I was looking around. I mean like, I think the pilot is about to throw me out the plane right now. So I was like, ‘Otega! I got to call you back later! But just hold that thought!'” Pope joked. “Fifteen minutes later, called him back. He said he was coming back? Tears down my face.”

“That means a lot,” Oweh said with a smile.

With how his draft process played out because of how he tested, Oweh could have elected to stay in as a likely second-round selection. Instead, Pope was proud to see him come back to college considering he gave up his dream, for at least one more season, to return to UK. However, that said, Oweh might regret that soon with what his head coach is apparently planning for summer practice inside the Joe Craft Center.

“I knew a couple things,” said Pope. “One, I knew, I know how excited you are and how much you want to go play in that league. I know it’s the dream of a lifetime and it was super humbling to see you do two things. One, understand how much you want to get better, how committed you are to getting better and the second thing was to see how much you understand and appreciate what you have right now. That’s special stuff, man.”

“So now we get back to work, baby!” Pope exclaimed. “Hey, and he’s been hyped. He was super hyped – all the way until he heard about the conditioning tests on the first day of summer workouts. Then it was like, woah, Coach, baby, I need to go back to this Jerry West!”

Oweh was the final piece of what should be a top-ranked team next season for Kentucky. His announcement was the most important after his junior season, his first with the program, where he had a career year averaging 16.2 points (49.2% FG, 35.5% 3PT), 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.6 steals. Oweh, a selection as All-SEC Second Team, was the Wildcats’ leader in minutes, scoring, steals, field goals, and free throws for Pope’s debut team, which went 24-12 (10-8) and made the Sweet 16.

Now, Oweh returns as the leader of what could be a national title contender. He’ll be one of five returners to go along with six additions in the second-best class in the transfer portal, a trio of four-star freshman, and an international prospect.

Announcing his return on the day of the deadline, Oweh made every member of Big Blue Nation that tip-off for next season was already here. That’s with their star guard now set to return to help them compete to win it all come March of next year.

“Is this going to BBN? God, I love BBN,” said Pope.

“Me too, actually. No place I’d rather be,” Oweh said with a smirk.