Otega Oweh powers Kentucky basketball past his old team. Cats beat Oklahoma on the road
READ MORE
Game day: No. 17 Kentucky 83, Oklahoma 82
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Oklahoma in Norman, Okla.
Expand All
Playing against his former team, Otega Oweh found a way to lift his current one to a victory Wednesday night.
Oweh scored the final 18 points of the game for Kentucky in an 83-82 victory against the Oklahoma Sooners at the Lloyd Noble Center, his home court for his first two seasons of college basketball.
The former Oklahoma player hit a shot in the final seconds to lift UK to victory.
Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson both returned to the Kentucky lineup after missing multiple games with injuries, though Robinson did not play in the second half after a setback related to his right wrist, and Butler fouled out with 4:16 left.
Amari Williams also picked up his third foul in the opening minute of the second half, and his playing time was limited throughout the game.
Brandon Garrison, who played at Oklahoma State last season and grew up about 20 miles from OU’s campus, was a key player for the Cats in the first half and came in for Williams again after the break, helping Kentucky extend its lead to 52-44 early in the period.
But that advantage didn’t last.
Oklahoma made nine consecutive shots — not missing from the field for a span of more than seven minutes — but Kentucky managed to keep it close amid that flurry and trailed by only two points at the end of it. Oweh had a fast-break dunk shortly after the Sooners finally missed a shot, and that tied the game at 71 with 6:42 left.
It remained a one-possession game from there, with Oweh powering Kentucky and Oklahoma often answering at the other end, until Kentucky’s leading scorer got the final points at the end.
Oweh, who was coming off his worst game of the season — scoring just two points on 1-for-9 shooting in a loss at Alabama on Saturday — finished with a career-high 28 points.
Garrison finished with 12 points, and no other UK players scored in double figures.
Butler, who missed the previous three games with a shoulder injury, finished with seven points, six assists and three turnovers in 20 minutes.
Robinson, who was sidelined four games with a wrist injury, tallied seven points and two steals in the first half, though he was 1-for-5 from 3-point range. He stayed on the bench for the entire second half, grasping at his injured right wrist and using only his left hand to high-five teammates.
Both players were listed as “probable” on Tuesday night’s injury report before returning in Wednesday’s game.
The Cats had their normal starting lineup back on the court, but it didn’t last long.
Williams picked up his second foul with 16:00 left in the first half, and Andrew Carr was called for his second foul with 13:34 remaining in the period. Carr didn’t play again until the second half, and, by halftime, Butler and Robinson had also picked up two fouls each.
But Kentucky still had the lead going into the break, despite a poor offensive start.
UK missed its first four shot attempts before a transition layup by Carr, followed by a 3-pointer and a jumper from Robinson.
Kentucky was up 17-8 nearly midway through the first half, before both teams got hot. The Cats hit seven consecutive shots, and the Sooners made seven of eight from the field in scoring runs that overlapped.
UK had a 35-29 lead by the end of that sequence, but the Cats missed five straight shots from there, finally finding the bottom of the net when Trent Noah chased down an offensive rebound and hit fellow freshman Travis Perry in the corner for a 3-pointer, setting off a “Go Big Blue!” chant in the Sooners’ arena.
That play helped the Cats go into the halftime locker room with a 43-41 lead.
Oklahoma (17-11, 4-11 SEC) was viewed as a team right on the NCAA Tournament bubble heading into this game.
Kentucky (19-9, 8-7 SEC) will return home this weekend for one of the biggest games of the regular season, a date with No. 1 Auburn, which defeated Ole Miss 106-76 on Wednesday night to improve to 26-2 overall and 14-1 in the SEC.
The Tigers have been ranked No. 1 for seven consecutive weeks. Their only two losses this season have come against No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Florida — two teams that UK has defeated previously this season — and they’re led by former Morehead State star Johni Broome, who is a candidate for national player of the year.
The UK-Auburn game is set for 1 p.m. EST Saturday on ABC.
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 11:29 PM.
