Can Otega Oweh help UK basketball make March Madness run to remember?
· Yahoo Sports
LEXINGTON — How Otega Oweh's time with Kentucky basketball will be remembered is still to be determined. But where UK goes from here, with only the NCAA Tournament left this season, likely will play a large part in that.
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If nothing else, Oweh has established himself as one of the best scorers the Wildcats have had this millennium. It's a group that includes names such as Jodie Meeks, Jamal Murray, Malik Monk and Antonio Reeves, among others.
In Reeves, Oweh shares a connection: Transfer guards who arrived in Lexington, spent two years and made their mark. Scored plenty of points. But ... didn't win much. Yes, the pair won games. But no SEC regular-season titles. No SEC Tournament championships. Only Oweh even made it out of the first weekend of the Big Dance, where UK fell short in a Sweet 16 showdown with bitter border-state nemesis Tennessee last year.
Oweh and Reeves are much like another two-year UK transfer: Oscar Tshiebwe. As talented a scorer as Tshiebwe was, he was a far more accomplished rebounder. And more distinguished individually, as he swept every National Player of the Year award during his debut season at Kentucky in 2021-22.
Oweh won't reach that level of personal achievement. (For what it's worth, he was the conference's preseason Player of the Year.) Given how up and down the Wildcats have been this season, they've needed him to play up to those expectations. He's answered the bell, failing to notch a double-digit point total just once in 33 games through March 13, when UK lost to Florida in the conference tournament quarterfinals.
In that regard, he's been the only constant in a campaign marked by inconsistency.
Kentucky has had multiple lopsided losses. It's beaten two of its former national-title winning coaches in John Calipari and Rick Pitino. It's even had a pair of second-half comebacks to topple Tennessee, overcoming double-digit deficits on both occasions.
Through it all, there's been Oweh, putting the ball in the basket with mind-numbing regularity.
After a win over Vanderbilt on Feb. 28, Oweh dubbed himself and fellow guards Denzel Aberdeen and Collin Chandler the "three-headed goat." Any given game, Oweh noted, any member of that trio could catch fire offensively.
That's true. To a point.
Chandler had 23 points in that aforementioned victory over Vandy, matching Oweh for the game high that day. But that's the only time in Chandler's college career he's eclipsed the 20-point barrier.
Aberdeen had 26 points in the loss to in-state rival Louisville in November. And he had 22 in the road rally to stun the Vols in January. But those are the only two instances Aberdeen has scored more than 20 this season (he previously had three outings of 20 or more last season at Florida.) Aberdeen's scoring has been adversely influenced by having to take on more point guard duties following a season-ending injury to Jaland Lowe.
To be sure, Aberdeen and Chandler are capable scorers. They've shown the potential for stellar showings offensively.
They're just not in Oweh's league.
"You just keep asking more from him," Kentucky coach Mark Pope said March 5, "and his career here, with what he's contributed to the two teams he's been a part of, it really is remarkable. ... He's got a competitor's heart that spills over. He's one of the kindest, most well-spoken guys we've had play here.
"He's a special human being, and he's had an epic run that we're excited to finish off in a great way."
Authoring that storybook ending for Oweh will require him to be at his best during the NCAA Tournament.
It's clear the Wildcats only will go as far as he can carry them.
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Given his top-flight scoring ability, don't bet against him. There's a long list of lead guards who put teams on their backs once the Big Dance tipped off to guide their teams to glory. Three of (fairly) recent vintage immediately come to mind.
Walter Clayton. Shabazz Napier. Kemba Walker.
Each of those three engineered a national title run — Clayton at Florida in 2025, Napier and Walker at UConn in 2014 and 2011, respectively — from the backcourt. As much as they all propelled their clubs, of course, they had help. Oweh will need it as well.
He just has to be the primary component.
"I feel like my favorite moment is still ahead of us," Oweh said March 1, replying to a query about his most treasured memory at Kentucky. "So, we're going to see."
To achieve immortality at college basketball's winningest program, NCAA Tournament success is compulsory. Oweh's opportunity is at hand.
If he salvages UK's lackluster regular season with a memorable stay in March Madness, he'll have that moment he so desperately seeks.
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Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball March Madness success may come down to Otega Oweh