Otega Oweh will continue his career with one of college basketball’s top programs.
The last remaining former Oklahoma player in the transfer portal has found a new home—and it’s with one of college basketball’s most prestigious programs.
On Saturday afternoon, Otega Oweh announced his commitment to Kentucky. Oweh played two seasons at Oklahoma and was the Sooners’ second-leading scorer this season before transferring on March 25, a week after the Sooners’ season ended with an NCAA Tournament snub.
Oweh is one of four Oklahoma players to transfer this offseason. Before the end of April, all four had committed elsewhere: Milos Uzan to Houston, Javian McCollum to Georgia Tech, and John Hugley to Xavier.
As a sophomore, the 6-foot-5, 215-pound Oweh averaged 11.2 points per game, finishing the season as the Sooners’ second-leading scorer behind McCollum. He started 28 of Oklahoma’s 32 games and averaged 24.9 minutes per game. The 2023-24 season marked a significant increase in playing time for Oweh, a former four-star prospect in the 2022 class who was ranked No. 70 overall in the 247Sports Composite out of high school. He appeared in 28 games as a true freshman the previous year, starting the final nine and averaging 4.8 points and 2.1 rebounds in 13.2 minutes per game.
There was hope within the Oklahoma program that Oweh would make a significant improvement in Year 2, and while he showed promise early in the year during the nonconference slate—when Oklahoma started 12-1 and climbed into the top-10 of the AP poll—Oweh struggled to find his footing during Big 12 play.
In nonconference play, he averaged 15.5 points per game on 64.7% shooting, going 13-of-18 (72.2%) from three and averaging four rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. In Big 12 play, however, as the competition increased, Oweh’s production dropped—particularly on the offensive end.
Oweh averaged 8.6 points per game on 37.6% shooting, including a paltry 20% from three and 56.7% from the free throw line against Big 12 opponents. Despite his struggles, Oweh lost his starting job late in the season when Porter Moser switched to senior Rivaldo Soares in the starting lineup. Soares’ performance down the stretch provided a spark for Oklahoma as it attempted to navigate late-season injury issues (including Soares’ lingering ankle issue) and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021.
The low point of Oweh’s season—and the pinnacle of his struggles in conference play—came in OU’s 87-75 loss to No. 1 Houston, when he went to the bench with 13:43 left in the second half and the Sooners trailing by 12 points. Oweh did not return to the court until the last 10 seconds of the game. He played a season-low 10 minutes and finished with three turnovers to two points.
In four games off the bench, Oweh averaged 5.2 points and 1.2 rebounds while shooting only 28.6% from the field.
Despite his offensive struggles, Oweh finished the season with the Sooners’ best individual defensive rating, allowing 98.4 points per 100 possessions while averaging 1.5 steals per game.
Despite his struggles at Oklahoma and the fact that his departure was inevitable, Oweh was ranked as the No. 24 overall player in the transfer portal this offseason by 247Sports. Now, he’ll get a fresh start at Kentucky under new Wildcats coach Mark Pope, who saw Oweh up close last season at BYU.
