SEC Preseason Player of the Year Otega Oweh is back at practice (and back to dunking)

Oct 14, 2025; Birmingham, AL, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Otega Oweh talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

After battling turf toe for the last two-plus months, Otega Oweh officially returned to Kentucky men’s basketball practice on Monday. While talking with reporters at SEC Media Days on Tuesday in Birmingham, he confirmed that he’s back on the floor and is full-go with the rest of his teammates.

“I’m feeling good, no restrictions,” Oweh said. “That’s a blessing. I’m just grateful that it was just this type of injury and nothing more. But I’m getting back into the flow of it. I’m in every drill, every competition rep, so I’m happy.”

And by the sound of it, Oweh was able to quickly get back into the swing of things, too. The training staff has been extra cautious with the SEC’s Preseason Player of the Year, doing everything they can to avoid an early setback. Oweh wasted no time experimenting with the health of his foot, either — even if it did make Pope a tad nervous. He was back to pulling off highlight dunks on his first day at practice with no issues.

“He got a steal and raced down the floor and took off from outside the free-throw line and dunked it,” Pope said of Oweh. “And as a coach, you just shake your head and be like ‘Young people. We love these young people.’ Otega’s a guy where you just cannot turn off his competitive motor.”

“Just had to test it to see if I still had my legs after a couple months,” Oweh said. “It’s still there.”

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Oweh admitted he was a bit sore waking up the following morning, but otherwise, he’s already back to feeling like his old self. Pope said that if anyone on this team can overcome missing so much of the offseason practice, it would be the senior guard with nearly 100 college games already under his belt.

“If you’re gonna have a guy miss the first couple weeks of practice, and he has really been out for almost 10 weeks now, he’s the guy to do it,” Pope said, adding that he doesn’t have “a lot of concerns” about Oweh maintaining his health moving forward.

With the first exhibition against top-ranked Purdue now less than two weeks away, adding Oweh back into the fold couldn’t have come at a better time for Pope and the Wildcats.