Where do you even go from here if you’re Otega Oweh?
The 6-foot-4 guard already has the résumé: an All-SEC honoree in 2024-25, double figures in 33 of 36 games, and career-highs across the board — 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. Oweh wasn’t just solid. He was a star.
Now, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope is raising the stakes.
“When it worked out that he was coming back, I couldn’t get ‘Oweh, Oweh, Oweh, Oweh’ out of my head,” Pope told CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. “He’s got so much more to his ceiling, clearly, you know?”
And according to Pope, that ceiling might just be National Defensive Player of the Year.
The Wildcats’ June-to-August workouts weren’t supposed to be about going full throttle. Coaches typically emphasize teaching, skills, and IQ over live competition. But this roster? They refused to slow down.
“I’ll tell you what I was most impressed with — this group was impossible to hold back,” Pope admitted.
Leading the charge was none other than No. 00 himself. After testing NBA waters, Oweh returned to Lexington and instantly turned practices into highlight reels.
“Otega Oweh… he did things defensively this summer that I would walk off the floor and be like, ‘I don’t even understand what I’m seeing,’” Pope said. “It’s a real credit to him.”
With Oweh’s defensive dominance now grabbing national attention, Pope isn’t shy about his belief: the senior guard could finish the 2025-26 season as the top defensive player in the country.
Kentucky fans already knew they were getting a proven scorer back. Now, they might be watching a player who can anchor the Wildcats’ defense at an elite, award-winning level.
And if Oweh lives up to Pope’s prediction, Big Blue Nation could be chanting a new anthem all season long:
“Oweh, Oweh, Oweh, Oweh!”
