Otega Oweh reflects on NBA Draft process, return to Kentucky

Otega Oweh completed Kentucky‘s 2025-26 men’s basketball roster when he withdrew his name from the 2025 NBA Draft. Set to return to UK for his second season, Oweh waited until the last minute to make the decision.

Oweh wanted to wait until he got through the entire pre-NBA Draft process, receiving all the feedback he could before returning to college for his final season of eligibility. He reflected on the process during his first meeting with the media since his return to Lexington.

“It’s been really fun traveling around, just playing against top competition. It’s everyone’s dream to play in the NBA, and going through the process is really fun,” Oweh said. “But, you know, I was just going out there competing, I was blessed to be invited to the (NBA) Combine and was able to go through that. Learning all the stuff I learned there, and then being able to come back play, I could definitely use those type of things to my advantage.”

Oweh will now look to take what he learned at during the NBA Draft process and apply it to his game. He was already off to a great start during his first season with Kentucky, where he averaged 16.2 points per game on a 49.2 percent clip to go along with 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Oweh scored in double figures during the first 13 games to start SEC play for the Wildcats and was a major contributor during Kentucky’s run to the Sweet 16 during the NCAA Tournament earlier this year before choosing to test the draft waters.

He waited to reveal his decision until the final day to withdraw from the draft. However, Oweh revealed that he made his final decision a couple of days ahead of his announcement. He waited until after his final workout to reveal it publicly.

“I knew that I had one more year left to try and do the things that maybe I didn’t get to complete last year. That was win a national championship,” Oweh said.

Kentucky ultimately fell short of head coach Mark Pope’s goal of hanging banners inside Rupp Arena in year one, but Oweh appears confident in his new team’s ability to do so. He’s going to have to get used to playing alongside a group of mostly new teammates aside from three other returners — Brandon Garrison, Trent Noah and Collin Chandler. That effort begins with a couple of preseason games inside Rupp Arena against Purdue and Georgetown in October.