Kentucky and Mark Pope land commitments on back-to-back days. First, the Kentucky Basketball staff landed San Diego State University talent, Lamont Butler, after an early morning flight yesterday to meet with the talented guard. Just now, Kentucky received another commitment from Oklahoma transfer forward, Otega Oweh, which was publicly announced on his social media accounts.
Oweh has spent his two seasons in college at Oklahoma University, dating back from the class of 2022. The 6'6" wing from Blairstown, New Jersey was a 4-star recruit coming out of high school and had several offers from many highly ranked universities such as Oklahoma, Illinois, Penn State, DePaul, Georgia, Georgetown, UMass, Miami, Ole Miss, St. John's, and Washington, among others.
“Otega shot 37 percent from the 3-point line last year,” Pope said. “He’s elite at earning trips to the free-throw line and he brings a special physicality and intensity to the game. Otega spent his entire season last year picking up the point guard full court in the Big 12. His tenacity on the court is contagious and his humility off the court is going to endear himself to Big Blue Nation.”
The 2024-25 season will be Oweh's junior season so technically he has two more years of collegiate eligibility remaining. However, like a lot of the players Mark Pope appears to be targeting, he has a lot of experience to add to the roster for the upcoming season, especially coming from another power five conference like the Big 12.
As a freshman at Oklahoma, Oweh managed to see the floor in 28 games and started in 9 of those averaging roughly 13 minutes of playing time a game. Oweh averaged 4.8 points per game on 44% shooting from the field as well. He took a significant leap from his freshman to sophomore season and avoided the "sophomore slump" that many players face. His playing time increased to nearly 25 minutes a game and he managed to start in 28 of the 32 games he played in this past season. His overall production improved within his individual stats as well, as he was scoring nearly 12 points a game on an outstanding 49% field goal percentage.
Oweh is another one of those "glue guys" for Mark Pope. He can play at either the two or the three depending on what is needed of him. You cannot leave him wide open from beyond the three-point line as he shot nearly 38% from behind the arc last year. The pieces are slowly starting to fit together for the Kentucky Basketball staff and this is a piece of the puzzle that I personally believe theBig Blue Nation will be excited about in the fall.
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