Otega Oweh's issues are about 'playing hard, having effort, 100%' -- which shouldn't happen as the SEC Preseason Player of the Year

The counting stats have been fine for Otega Oweh in his second and final season as a Kentucky Wildcat — not the All-SEC production we saw throughout his junior year, which is why he was named SEC Preseason Player of the Year, but fine. He’s averaging 12.8 points on 43/29/88 splits with 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest, similar to what he brought to the table at Oklahoma, which was good enough for Mark Pope to recruit him out of the transfer portal to begin with.

In the two games that have actually mattered against name-brand competition, though, he’s shooting a combined 8-25 overall (32%) and 3-11 from three (27%) with six total turnovers. TEGATRON has been desperate for an oil change and some WD-40 to knock the rust off, failing to live up to the hype he clearly deserved as one of the biggest returning talents in college basketball and the face of Kentucky basketball.

That face has been fitting, unfortunately, the Wildcats off to a disappointing 3-2 start with a pair of blowouts on the big stage, met with poor body language and bad effort. It’s a chicken-and-egg dynamic — did the losses lead to the bad body language and effort, or did the bad body language and effort lead to the losses? That doesn’t necessarily matter, because none of it is good and must be fixed if they have any dreams of becoming serious Final Four contenders.

“Super disappointed, but it’s part of basketball,” Oweh said following the 83-66 loss to Michigan State in the Champions Classic. “Mistakes happen. Bad games happen. Unfortunately, we wish we could win all these games and put on a great showing, but we didn’t do that, so it’s a matter of us responding.

“Coach Pope always talks about responding when adversity hits. Our adversity hit right now, and that’s something we’re going to figure out for sure.”

Emotions were a big talking point coming out of the Louisville loss a week ago, Pope saying the Wildcats were “out of character” because of a “pregame experience” in enemy territory — while failing to address what that pregame experience actually was.

“I actually don’t want to keep our emotions in check, I just want to keep them focused and I want to keep them intentional,” he said at the time.

How were the emotions going into the Michigan State matchup, under the bright lights at Madison Square Garden, live on ESPN? Oweh said they were prepared and excited, but could have done more once the ball was tipped.

“That’s a big thing we focus on every single game day, not being too high, too low, just staying even keel,” he continued. “I think when we’re in the game, we have to up our emotions even more, if I’m being honest, just reading the game.

“Leading up to the game, our emotions, we were excited for this game. We prepped very well. I think we just didn’t go out and execute for whatever reason. We’re going to go back and watch the film, but we just didn’t execute. We have to have higher emotion, higher intensity when we’re in a game setting.”

Those things are obvious if you just watch the games, Kentucky often the nail instead of the hammer, reactive rather than proactive. The Wildcats have gotten into track meets against both Louisville and Michigan State to start, only for the wheels to fall off at the 12-minute mark each time, fighting to stay above water before ultimately drowning.

Oweh has not been the life raft he was brought back (and paid) to be, playing like a role player instead of carrying himself like the star he could and should be. Maybe the greater concern is that he’s been on an island hunting shots and seemingly looking to impress scouts in attendance with the focus on draft stock over doing what he does best to help the team as a junkyard dog and relentless downhill finisher.

Pope didn’t call him out specifically after the loss, but he did say there is too much me over we right now for the Wildcats.

“If you build an organization the right way, then your identity is not about an individual person,” he said. “Your identity is about a collective group.”

How does Oweh view his own personal struggles, relative to those sky-high expectations?

It comes down to effort.

“I mean, we’re all going to figure it out,” he said. “With me it’s just a matter of me playing hard, having effort, 100 percent. That’s something that I’ve got to go out there and do and everything else will fall into place after that.”

You mean to tell me that taking on a top-20 opponent at Madison Square Garden, live on ESPN, in front of friends and family as a New Jersey native, coming off a disastrous effort at Louisville exactly one week prior, doesn’t fire you up for 40 minutes as a hooper?

Not what you’re looking for from the face of the program — but it matches the team’s current approach.