In his return to Oklahoma, Otega Oweh scored Kentucky's 18 final points

Feb. 26, 2025 will forever be remembered by the Big Blue Nation as the Otega Oweh Game.

Kentucky’s star junior guard earned that title by putting together one of the best second-half performances you’ll see at the college level. Oweh poured in a career-high 28 points (12-21 FG), 23 coming after halftime, against his former team in what will go down as an instant SEC classic. The Wildcats just edged out Oklahoma 83-82 on the road.

I mean, where do we even begin? There are numerous storylines to pull from this one. For starters, Oweh spent his first two seasons at Oklahoma before making the jump to Kentucky in the offseason. This was a bit of a homecoming game. Returning to Norman for the first time since leaving the Sooners was always going to mean a little bit more than the rest of the Wildcats’ road games this season — even if he wouldn’t publicly admit it.

Amidst chants of “You’re a traitor” from the Oklahoma fans in attendance and an incredibly rough first-half (which continued early into the second-half), Oweh found the strength to put a — once again — shorthanded Kentucky team on top. He scored 18 straight points for the Wildcats across the final 8:38 of regulation, including the go-ahead game-winner with 6.1 seconds left on the clock. Go back even further, and he scored 21 of Kentucky’s final 23 points, most coming at the rim with plenty of contact.

“It’s a great feeling, coming to your old space and getting a win. I definitely heard the boos,” Oweh, who didn’t realize he even scored 18 straight, said postgame. “It was just cool, being a basketball player, getting that type of attention.”

Otega Oweh is signing autographs for Kentucky fans with Go Big Blue chants in the background. pic.twitter.com/8jbqjzWfBo

— Adam Stratton (@AdamStrattonKSR) February 27, 2025

The timing of Oweh’s excellent showing couldn’t have been better either. After scoring in double-digits 26 straight games to begin the season, he put up a dud over the weekend against Alabama: a season-low two points while fouling out in the process. Oweh started the Oklahoma game 2-7 from the field with a pair of turnovers before striking fear into the entire Sooners’ roster in the closing segments.

“I thought it was really incredible effort, especially since his first 32 minutes were so incredibly shaky,” Head coach Mark Pope said postgame of Oweh. “There was a lot of frustration rolling around our team, and then Otega was super frustrated. You know, it wasn’t his finest 32, but the one thing about Otega that we’ve learned over the season is that, he always is kind of just around the corner from making huge plays. And so sometimes you just kind of have to look away but, man, what an epic response by him, like unbelievable performance from him down the stretch.”

Oweh’s scoring punch might not even be the best part about his night though.

Yes, the tough runner in the lane with the clock winding down put Kentucky ahead for good. But the final score could easily look different if Oweh didn’t sprint back on defense and block Jeremiah Fears‘ potential game-winning layup. The overall defense he played in the last minute or so is what won Kentucky this game. He also grabbed six rebounds in his 32 minutes played. It was the type of performance you expect out of an All-SEC candidate.

“I’m really proud of him because his first four minutes, or his first 20 minutes, or his first 32 minutes of the game could have not allowed him not to have the last eight,” Pope added.

Leaving Oklahoma with the dub. pic.twitter.com/2DlkrOWt8s

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 27, 2025