Otegatron 2.0?
Otega Oweh already established himself as a premier scorer in the SEC. After a phenomenal junior season, his decision to test the NBA Draft waters was no surprise. He impressed at the combine, showcasing the athleticism and scoring punch that led to averages of 16.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in 2024. That scoring clip was one of the best at Kentucky in recent memory, trailing only legends like Oscar Tshiebwe and Antonio Reeves. He ultimately returned to Lexington, and the expectation was simple: Oweh would be the team's offensive engine.
But something else is happening behind the closed doors of the Joe Craft Center—a transformation that has Head Coach Mark Pope borderline speechless. The buzz isn't about Oweh's jump shot or his ability to get to the rim; it's about his defense.
"He’s got so much more to his ceiling," Pope revealed on the Eye On College Basketball Podcast. "I’ll tell you what I was most impressed with… this summer, sometimes we dial competition back to focus on skill and IQ. But this group was impossible to hold back, and Otega Oweh… he did things defensively this summer that I would walk off the floor saying, ‘I don’t even understand what I am seeing.’”
For a veteran coach like Pope, who has seen and coached countless elite players, to be audibly stunned by a player's defensive improvement is a massive statement. It suggests Oweh isn't just getting better at staying in front of his man; he's becoming a genuinely disruptive force. Kentucky already knows it can rely on him for a bucket in a key moment. But if he has truly evolved into a lockdown defensive stopper—the kind of player who can neutralize the opponent's best perimeter threat—his entire value proposition changes.
He transforms from a star scorer into a legitimate two-way superstar. That leap would not only make him Kentucky's most important returning player but would elevate him into the conversation for SEC and National Player of the Year. In modern basketball, elite teams are defined by their two-way players. If Oweh's offseason defensive metamorphosis is as real as his coach claims, the ceiling for the 2025-26 Kentucky Wildcats just got significantly higher.