Otega Oweh Shoots Down Off-Court Issues With Kentucky, But Says Team Has 'Got to Be Fed Up'

Otega Oweh was candid in his postgame comments after Kentucky’s 107-63 win over North Carolina Central on Tuesday night. Kentucky needs to be fed up.

The 6-foot-4 senior guard finished with 21 points on 9-for-12 shooting in the win, including seven rebounds. He said postgame that Mark Pope has been pushing this team to be “fed up.”

“I feel like he is trying to give us that seriousness and that intensity that we all should have,” Oweh said. “Obviously, we’re 0-4 in these high-major games. We’ve got to be fed up. He’s trying to show us that.”

However, there’s one thing this team isn’t struggling with, according to Oweh. That’s off the court chemistry.

“It ain’t no off the court stuff,” Oweh said. “It’s all on the court. Obviously, people are going to speculate, but it’s all on the court. We’re the closest group. We’re all good. It ain’t nothing off the court.

Otega Oweh says there are no off the court issues with this Kentucky team. pic.twitter.com/0pLF6yBCTt

— KSR (@KSRonX) December 10, 2025

Pope Says Kentucky is Trying

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said postgame that the intensity in practices over the summer hasn’t translated to the season. However, he’s been having conversations individually with his players on a “regular basis” to change that.

“It hasn’t translated yet, but it will. Yet is a powerful word, guys. It’s the best word in the English language. It’s three letters that are super powerful, and it hasn’t translated yet, but it will,” Pope said. “It will. We’re going to be so proud of this team. We’re not yet, but we will be. That competitive spirit, man, I’ve done a poor job of getting that out of guys in games, which has been monumentally frustrating for me.”

Pope remained confident that changes would be made. That, or “we’re going to die trying.”

“It’s there. We just got to get it, and we have to find a way to do it, and we have to get guys outside of themselves, and we have to get guys living and dying for this team, in this gym, for this fanbase, in these games,” Pope said. “In competitive games, when things go bad, we have to be able to tap into that. So far, I’ve done a poor job of listening to that from our guts. Nobody is more surprised about that than I am. That’s not going to stand.”

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