Otega Oweh picked up MORE preseason All-American honors

by: Zack Geoghegan6 hours agoZGeogheganKSR

otega-oweh-voted-sec-preseason-player-of-the-year-kentucky-picked-to-finish-2nd — Kentucky senior guard Otega Oweh during Big Blue Madness - Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio

The preseason honors continue to pile up for Kentucky’s Otega Oweh.

We can hardly go a couple of days at this point without Oweh’s name being mentioned in some sort of 2025-26 national season preview. We’re still six days out from the Wildcats’ season-opener, but the senior guard has already been named the Preseason SEC Player of the Year and added to the Jerry West Award watch list. Multiple outlets, such as CBS Sports and ESPN, have also tabbed Oweh as a preseason All-American.

On Wednesday, two more popular outlets recognized him as a preseason All-American. Our friends at The Field of 68 tabbed Oweh as a Third Team All-American, while the folks over at Sports Illustrated listed him as a Second Team All-American. On top of that, CBS Sports recently ranked Oweh as the 9th-best player in college basketball going into the season.

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🏆 PRESEASON 3RD TEAM ALL-AMERICA 🏆@LouisvilleMBB’s Mikel Brown Jr.@KentuckyMBB’s Otega Oweh@UHCougarMBK’s Milos Uzan@KStateMBB’s PJ Haggerty@StJohnsBBall’s Zuby Ejiofor

READ ⬇️https://t.co/J15QenDW3D pic.twitter.com/QS511hDdjL
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) October 29, 2025

Here is what both The Field of 68 and Sports Illustrated had to say about Oweh in their write-ups.

There’s so much talk about Kentucky’s newcomers, but having a 16 point-per-game scorer back in Lexington is the biggest headline from the Kentucky offseason. Oweh thrived in Pope’s offense, using his elite athleticism and finishing ability to live at the rim thanks to Kentucky’s elite offensive spacing. The Wildcats don’t profile to be as excellent a shooting team this year, but it’s easy to trust that Pope will find creative ways to get him involved.

Kevin Sweeney | Sports Illustrated

Selected as the SEC’s Preseason POTY, Oweh comes back to Kentucky after testing the NBA Draft waters. He might be the best downhill driver in the entire country, and he’s really worked on his outside shot this offseason. Oweh averaged 16.7 points and 4.7 rebounds last year on a team with a plethora of offensive weapons. He’ll be more of the focal point for this go around, which will only improve his numbers.

Jeff Goodman, Rob Dauster, and Sam Lance | The Field of 68

Oweh turned down a chance to hear his name called in the 2025 NBA Draft in favor of a return to Kentucky and a chance to develop himself into a bona fide first-round pick in 2026. At least in the preseason, that decision is looking like the smart one. Even with a 10-week break in the summer due to turf toe, he looked like regular ole Otega Oweh during UK’s exhibition last Friday against Purdue.

In the Wildcats’ 78-65 win over the top-ranked Boilermakers, 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.

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