Otega Oweh is receiving his flowers as a veteran voice: 'He's really leading us this year'

Despite developing into Kentucky’s most reliable player during Mark Pope‘s debut season, Otega Oweh didn’t have to use his voice all that often — his play did all the talking.

Surrounded by a slew of upperclassmen in 2024-25, which included seven combined seniors and graduate students, Oweh was able to comfortably chime in whenever needed. But that’s not the case going into the 2025-26 campaign. He has to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Now a senior and the Preseason SEC Player of the Year with goals of being a first-round NBA Draft pick next summer, there is added pressure on the New Jersey native’s shoulders.

Part of that pressure is replacing over half a dozen veteran voices in the locker room. Not counting the walk-ons, Oweh and Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen are the only seniors on this season’s roster. But Oweh has played under Pope before, whereas Aberdeen hasn’t. He knows what it takes to be a college basketball player at Kentucky. With that comes the responsibility to be an even greater leader.

“Last year, (Oweh) was a leader, but he was kinda quiet and just go out there and kill and do what he do,” Junior center Brandon Garrison, who is taking on new leadership responsibilities of his own, said on Monday. “But I feel like he’s really leading us this year, on and off the court. Just his behavior, how he talks to us, helping the younger guys, the guys behind him.”

Pope has noticed his star player take a leap in that area, as well. Garrison said that the team got chewed out by Pope the morning after Kentucky’s exhibition loss to Georgetown last Thursday. The response must have been positive. Over the weekend, Oweh was receiving his flowers from Pope for how he’s been leading the team.

“Actually, after the Saturday practice, coach him his kudos just because every single day, he’d been leading us, being more vocal,” Garrison said. “He was vocal last year, but not in as big of a leadership role as he is in this year. But coach gave him his kudos and let everybody know in front of the team. I feel like he’s been doing a great job on that.”

Expectations are high for Oweh this season. He’s a preseason All-American candidate after averaging 16.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per outing a season ago. But he did sit out a couple of months during the summer due to a turf toe injury that forced him to the sidelines. That hasn’t seemed to bother him upon returning, though. Oweh averaged 13.5 points and three rebounds in 21.5 minutes per contest during Kentucky’s exhibitions against Georgetown and top-ranked Purdue.

“He missed a lot of time in the summer and he was always trying to get on the court, but they had to stop him,” Garrison added. “Once he came back, it was just regular Otega. He was in shape. I thought he wasn’t gonna be in shape but he came doing the old stuff he was doing, and that was impressive.”

Pope selected Oweh as one of Kentucky’s three player representatives at SEC Media Days last month for a reason. He’s essentially the face of the program right now. Whatever Oweh does, his teammates will follow, and he seems eager to take on that kind of role.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.