A former starting guard from the Big 12 Conference will be a Kentucky Wildcat next season.
Former Oklahoma guard Otega Oweh — who spent the last two seasons with the Sooners — announced Saturday that he would be transferring to Kentucky.
Prior to his signing with UK, Oweh was on a recruiting visit to Kentucky on Thursday. That same day, Pope, the new UK coach, was spotted at Keeneland with legendary former UK basketball player Dan Issel.
In addition to Kentucky, Oweh had taken recruiting visits as a transfer portal player to Oregon and Texas A&M. Oweh announced his plans to enter the transfer portal on March 25.
Oweh, who stands 6-foot-5, started 37 times and made 60 career appearances for the Sooners over the last two seasons. During the 2023-24 season, Oweh made 28 starts and played in 32 games, averaging 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 assist per contest.
Per KenPom, Oweh’s steal percentage last season of 3.5% ranked among the top 100 players nationally. Steal percentage is calculated as steals divided by defensive possessions.
As a freshman two seasons ago, Oweh averaged 4.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. He played in 28 games with nine starts that season for Oklahoma.
For his college career, Oweh has shot 47.9% from the field and 36.8% on 3-pointers (from 57 total attempts).
“He’s elite at earning trips to the free-throw line and he brings a special physicality and intensity to the game.” Pope said of Oweh in a news release Saturday. “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.”
Originally from Newark, New Jersey, Oweh was ranked as a four-star recruit in the 2022 recruiting class and was the No. 70 overall player in that recruiting group, per the 247Sports Composite. He is the younger brother of NFL linebacker Odafe Oweh, who plays for the Baltimore Ravens.
According to college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa, Oweh was the No. 38 overall transfer portal player, as of Friday afternoon.
Oweh’s most notable performance as an Oklahoma player came last season during a December defeat to North Carolina: He had 23 points with five rebounds in that game.
Oweh is the fifth player lined up to play for new UK head coach Mark Pope next season. The others are first-year guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, fifth-year guard Lamont Butler and fifth-year forward Amari Williams.
Butler previously played four seasons at San Diego State. Williams previously played four seasons at Drexel in Philadelphia.
Chandler was formerly signed to play for Pope at BYU. A member of the 2022 recruiting class, Chandler is completing a two-year mission trip and will make his college basketball debut this season with the Wildcats.
