Otega Oweh takes over against Oklahoma again

Kentucky’s leading scorer loves playing against his former Sooners team.

Otega Oweh’s former team, the Oklahoma Sooners, came into Thursday night’s SEC Tournament second-round matchup treating it as a revenge game. The Kentucky Wildcats had edged the Sooners 83-82 in Norman, Oklahoma, just 15 days prior to Thursday night’s game.

Then again, Oweh was also treating this as a revenge game against his former team. This time it was Round Two for Kentucky’s leading scorer, and it was practically a carbon copy of the first game against Oklahoma.

After Oklahoma miraculously took an 84-83 lead with 5.6 seconds to play, Oweh drove the length of the floor and hit the game-winning shot with less than a second to go. Just as he did at Oklahoma, it was Oweh connecting on the game-winner for Kentucky again on Thursday night in the Second Round of the SEC Tournament.

The layup gave Oweh, and more importantly, it gave Kentucky an 85-84 win amid a raucous Big Blue Nation presence at Bridgestone Arena Thursday night.

With Kentucky leading just 66-65 with 6:39 to play, Oweh took over. In a Kentucky run that stretched to 11-0 and 13-3, Oweh scored seven points to extend Kentucky’s lead from just a single point to 77-65 with 3:28 to play.

Just 15 days prior to Thursday night’s game, Oweh scored 28 points on the road in Norman, Oklahoma. That included Kentucky’s final 18 points and game-winning basket with less than 10 seconds remaining.

In the Second Round of the SEC Tournament Thursday night, Oweh scored 27 points on 8/14 shooting, including 2/3 from 3-point range and 9/10 from the free-throw line.

Oweh’s first three points of the night eclipsed him over the 1,000-point mark in his college career. They were part of a shot-out-of-the-cannon 8-0 run over the first 1:15 for the Wildcats, as they sprinted out to an 8-0 lead.

With the Wildcats trailing 28-25 with 4:11 left in the first half, Oweh went into full-on attack mode. After being held scoreless since his opening 3-pointer, Oweh drove to the basket to convert and draw an and-one. His subsequent free throw tied the game at 28, and Oweh finished the first half with 11 of his 27 total points.

Oweh was everywhere tonight on the court. In addition to his 27 points, Oweh also had five assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Kentucky will face No. 3 seed Alabama in Friday night’s SEC Quarterfinals. Oweh will have to be great again for the Wildcats in that game, especially if Lamont Butler isn’t able to go.

Butler left Thursday night’s game against Oklahoma with about nine minutes to play in the first half. Trainers were looking at his shoulder, the same injured shoulder that he’s been battling through throughout this season.

Friday night’s game will tip off at approximately 9:30 E.T. on the SEC Network.