Otega Oweh named to NABC Player of the Year award watch list

by: Zack Geoghegan8 hours agoZGeogheganKSR

1 - Oweh IMG_0127 — Kentucky senior guard Otega Oweh has been tabbed the SEC Preseason Player of the Year. (Jeff Drummond/Cats Illustrated)

How about another preseason honor for the Preseason SEC Player of the Year?

On Thursday morning, the National Association of Basketball Coaches listed Kentucky men’s basketball guard Otega Oweh as one of 20 players to crack the 2026 NABC Division I Player of the Year award watch list. A nationwide vote collected from Division I head coaches will select the winner at the end of the regular season. The winner will be announced the week of the 2026 Men’s Final Four.

Oweh is one of five players from the Southeastern Conference to make the watch list. Oscar Tshiebwe is the last Wildcat to win the award, which he did in 2022. Duke’s Cooper Flagg was last season’s winner.

Nate Ament, Tennessee
Cameron Boozer, Duke
Alex Condon, Florida
Donovan Dent, UCLA
AJ Dybantsa, BYU
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s
PJ Haggerty, Kansas State
Graham Ike, Gonzaga
Alex Karaban, Connecticut
Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue
Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan
Otega Oweh, Kentucky
Darryn Peterson, Kansas
Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn
Labaron Philon, Alabama
Braden Smith, Purdue
Bennett Stirtz, Iowa
JT Toppin, Texas Tech
Milos Uzan, Houston
Darrion Williams, North Carolina State

It’s been a busy week for Oweh. On Wednesday, The Field of 68 and Sports Illustrated tabbed the senior guard to one of its Preseason All-American Teams. Other outlets, such as CBS Sports and ESPN, have also labeled him a Preseason All-American. Oweh was one of 20 players named to the Jerry West Award watch list earlier this week, while CBS Sports ranked him as the ninth-best player in the country going into the 2025-26 season.

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That’s a lot of preseason love to keep up with…

It’s well-deserved, though. In the Wildcats’ 78-65 exhibition win over top-ranked Purdue, Oweh posted 10 points, three rebounds, one assist, and one steal in just 17 minutes while shooting 4-9 from the field and 1-2 from deep. He’s coming off a junior campaign where he was Kentucky’s leading scorer, and the expectation is he’ll do that once again in 2025-26 but on an even deeper and more talented roster.

Oweh will be in action again on Thursday night in Kentucky’s final exhibition. The ‘Cats will host the Georgetown Hoyas at 7:00 p.m. ET on the SEC Network+ ahead of next week’s season-opener against Nicholls.

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