Everyone will remember the box score.
The 21 points.
The clutch buckets.
Another 20-plus performance in SEC play.
But what most fans didn’t see Wednesday night in Baton Rouge was just how close Otega Oweh came to never stepping on the floor.
Kentucky’s senior guard entered the LSU matchup riding one of the most consistent stretches of his career, averaging 15.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.0 assists while scoring in double figures in every game this season. He’d already reached 20 points in each of the Wildcats’ first three SEC contests.
Yet hours before tipoff, Oweh’s status was very much in doubt.
He was “really under the weather” — sick enough to miss Kentucky’s morning shootaround and trending toward being a late scratch, potentially joining Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance on the sideline. Instead of shutting it down, Oweh made the decision to play.
And then he gutted it out.
The illness showed early. Oweh started just 2-of-6 from the field and left a few uncharacteristic points at the free-throw line. But as Kentucky dug itself into an 18-point second-half hole, Oweh did what leaders do — he kept coming.
By the final horn, he had poured in a team-high 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting, hit three massive three-pointers, grabbed four rebounds, picked up two steals, and logged 37 demanding minutes. His effort helped fuel a furious comeback that ended with Malachi Moreno’s game-winning buzzer-beater in a stunning 75–74 road victory.
After the game, Mark Pope revealed just how compromised Oweh had been all day.
“You think about Otega — another heroic performance — and he couldn’t even make it to shootaround this morning,” Pope said. “He was so sick.”
Kentucky’s offense sputtered for long stretches, and the Wildcats struggled to get stops, but Oweh’s poise never cracked. Alongside key contributions from Denzel Aberdeen, Moreno, and Andrija Jelavic, he helped keep Kentucky locked in when the game could have easily slipped away.
“He’s been really under the weather and just battled through it tonight,” Pope added. “It’s a credit to these guys for staying in there and finding a way.”
Aberdeen made sure to highlight Oweh’s impact as well.
“Shoutout to Otega Oweh,” he said. “He was getting downhill and creating plays for his teammates.
Quietly, Oweh also made history. He became the first Kentucky player since Jodie Meeks in 2008–09 to score 20 or more points in each of the Wildcats’ first three SEC games. The LSU performance extended his double-figure scoring streak to 17 straight games this season — and 50 of his 53 games overall in a Kentucky uniform.
Everyone saw the points.
Not everyone saw the illness, the missed shootaround, or how close Kentucky came to being without its leader.
