Otega Oweh Goes No. 41 in NBA Draft, Traded to Oklahoma City

Oweh is the 147th all-time selection for the Kentucky men’s basketball program, the nation’s all-time leader in total draft selections. This also marks a nation-leading 19th straight draft in which a UK player has been drafted. Oweh is the fourth player under Mark Pope in two seasons to hear his name called in the NBA Draft joining Jayden Quaintance, Koby Brea and Amari Williams.

This marks the second consecutive draft the Cats have had a player taken at No. 41 overall. Brea was picked at No. 41 a season ago – signifying the jersey number worn by Pope at Kentucky.

Oweh would be joining two other Wildcats in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Cason Wallace in Oklahoma City. Gilgeous-Alexander is the two-time reigning most valuable player.

The Newark, New Jersey, native had a prolific two-year career for the Blue and White. He averaged 17.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in the 72 games with the Cats, and he reached double-figure scoring in 68 games played.

During his senior season, Oweh passed Bill Spivey for the most career points scored by a Kentucky player in their first two seasons with the program (1,255). His 1,255 career points with the Cats trailed only Kyle Macy (1,411) for the most points scored all-time by a transfer.

Oweh’s most spectacular performance came during the NCAA Tournament during his senior season. He had a career-high 35 points and added team highs in rebounds (8) and assists (7) in UK’s overtime win over Santa Clara in the opening round. He also drained a game-tying halfcourt heave to force the extra time. His 35-8-7 stat line marked the first time a player accomplished that line in an NCAA Tournament since Larry Bird of Indiana State in 1979. Oweh also became just one of four players to ever record that stat line during the NCAA Tournament joining Bird, Bill Bradley (Princeton, 1965) and Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati, 1959). He is the only player in Kentucky history to have 30 or more points, five or more rebounds and five or more assists in an NCAA Tournament game.

He was twice named to the All-Southeastern Conference team and was a National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District Team honoree in both seasons as well.

Other notable achievements by Oweh during his Kentucky career:

• Oweh topped 1,000 points in just 61 games as a Wildcat. He was the sixth-fastest player to 1,000 points in program history
• His 68 games in double figures over the last two seasons was tied for the most in Division I with Jaron Pierre Jr.
• He averaged 21.1 points per game in SEC play as a senior and had 14 games with 20 or more points against league foes. The 14 games in SEC action were the most in the league this season
• Oweh was just the fifth Wildcat since 1996-97 to average 21.0 points per game or more in SEC action. He joined Jodie Meeks (24.9 in 2009), Jamal Murray (22.4 in 2016), Antonio Reeves (21.2 in 2024) and Malik Monk (21.2 in 2017) as the others to achieve the feat
• Oweh was the first Kentucky player to score at least 575 points in consecutive seasons since Jamal Mashburn in 1992 and 1993
• Oweh had 32, 20-point games for the Wildcats. That ranks as the second-most in program history since 1996-97 (Keith Bogans – 33, Otega Oweh – 32)
• He had 23, 20-point efforts against SEC opponents. That ranked as the most in program history since 1996-97
• UK’s senior poured in 21 points and added three rebounds and two assists in the win over Missouri in the SEC Tournament. He was the first UK player to score at least 21 points in the first two games of the league tournament since Jamal Murray in 2016
• He registered 23 points, eight rebounds and three assists in the first round of the SEC Tournament against LSU, becoming the first Wildcat with 23 points and eight rebounds in the SEC Tournament since Randolph Morris in 2007
• Oweh stuffed the stat sheet with 24 points, a season-high nine rebounds, five assists and three steals at Texas A&M. He joined Patrick Patterson as the only Wildcat to record at least 24-9-5-3 in a game since 1996-97
• He scored 29 points at Auburn which were the most for a UK player since Jim Master had 29 on Feb. 3, 1982
• He is the first UK player to have 28 points in consecutive SEC games since Oscar Tshiebwe on Jan. 8 and 11, 2022
• He became the first UK player since Tayshaun Prince to have two 20-point efforts inside of Memorial Gym in a career, with 20 points at Vanderbilt as a senior
• He drained the longest shot in program history with a 69-foot heave at the end of the first half against Missouri
• Oweh nearly had a triple-double in the win over Bellarmine with 10 points, a season-high eight rebounds and a career-high 10 assists. He also generated a pair of steals for his eighth consecutive game with multiple steals, the longest streak of his career
• In his first career NCAA Tournament appearance, Oweh poured in 20 points and added eight rebounds and a career-high six assists in a win over Troy
• Oweh became the first player this century to score the game-winning basket in multiple one-point victories against the same opponent in a single season when he hit a buzzer-beater in the win over Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament
• Oweh scored 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time in his collegiate career. He tallied 21 points against Alabama on Jan. 18 and followed that up with another 21 on Jan. 25 at Vanderbilt as a junior. He repeated consecutive 20-point outings with 20 at Texas and 20 in the home win over Vanderbilt
• Against Ohio State, Oweh was a perfect 13 of 13 from the free-throw line. That tied for the fifth-best single-game performance in program history. Four players have gone 14 of 14 from the charity stripe