Mark Pope’s second UK team includes the preseason SEC player of the year
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- Kentucky basketball guard Otega Oweh was named the preseason SEC Player of the Year.
- Oweh was named to the All-SEC first team, while Jaland Lowe is on the All-SEC third team.
- Mark Pope’s second UK basketball team was picked to finish second in the SEC.
Mark Pope’s second Kentucky basketball team will feature the preseason SEC player of the year.
The league office released preseason accolades Monday morning and UK senior guard Otega Oweh earned the top honor, along with being named first-team All-SEC. Additionally, UK point guard Jaland Lowe — a newcomer who transferred to Kentucky earlier this year from Pittsburgh — was named a preseason third-team All-SEC selection.
Voting for the teams was done by SEC and national media members.
Oweh opted to return to Kentucky this offseason after flirting with the idea of turning professional. He began his college career by spending two seasons at Oklahoma, before opting to transfer to Kentucky last year as part of Pope’s complete roster overhaul after becoming the UK coach.
During his first season at Kentucky, Oweh was one of two players (along with center Amari Williams) to start all 36 of the Wildcats’ games. He played the most minutes (1,020) of any player on Pope’s first Kentucky squad.
Oweh led UK in scoring (16.2 points per game) and steals (57 in total) last season. He tied for second on the team with 4.7 rebounds per contest. Oweh scored at least 10 points in each of Kentucky’s first 26 games last season.
Following his junior season, Oweh was named a second-team All-SEC selection in March.
For his college career, Oweh has averaged 11.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 steals across 96 games played, with 73 of those being starts.
Oweh is the first preseason first-team All-SEC selection for the Cats since Antonio Reeves ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. Last year, ex-Cat Jaxson Robinson was a preseason third-team All-SEC choice.
Before Oweh, the last UK player to be named the preseason SEC player of the year was Oscar Tshiebwe in 2022. The SEC began awarding a preseason player of the year in 1997, and Oweh is the seventh Wildcat to earn the honor.
Lowe spent his first two college seasons at Pittsburgh and is expected to be Kentucky’s starting point guard this season. Last season with the Panthers, he averaged 16.8 points and 5.5 assists.
Joining Oweh with preseason first-team All-SEC honors are Alex Condon (Florida), Josh Hubbard (Mississippi State), Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn) and Labaron Philon Jr. (Alabama).
Preseason second-team All-SEC accolades went to Nate Ament (Tennessee), Boogie Fland (Florida), Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Tennessee), Thomas Haugh (Florida) and Mark Mitchell (Missouri).
Ament, a five-star freshman recruit for the Vols, was also recruited to UK by Pope. Fland was originally signed to play college basketball at Kentucky as part of then-coach John Calipari’s 2024 recruiting class. That recruiting group fell apart after Calipari’s departure, and Fland played his freshman season for Calipari at Arkansas, before transferring this offseason to the Gators.
Lowe was joined on the preseason All-SEC third team by Malik Dia (Ole Miss), Aden Holloway (Alabama), Karter Knox (Arkansas) and D.J. Wagner (Arkansas).
Like Fland, Knox was also originally part of UK’s 2024 recruiting group before following Calipari to Fayetteville. Wagner played his freshman season at Kentucky before also transferring to the Hogs to play for Calipari.
Kentucky basketball picked to finish second in SEC in media vote
UK was picked to finished second out of 16 teams in the SEC in the league’s preseason media poll. Florida, the defending national champion, was picked to win the SEC regular-season title. Todd Golden’s Gators also won the SEC Tournament last season.
Kentucky finished in a tie for sixth in the SEC during the 2024-25 season after posting a 10-8 record in conference games. UK was the 6 seed for the SEC Tournament, defeating Oklahoma in the second round on an Oweh buzzer-beater (his second in as many games last season against his former school) before being blown out by Alabama in the quarterfinals.
UK has won an SEC-best 49 regular-season league titles.
In his 10 previous seasons as a college head coach, Pope’s best conference regular-season finish has been second place. He’s achieved this mark four times, all in consecutive seasons. Pope piloted Utah Valley to second-place finishes in the WAC in 2017-18 and 2018-19. He also steered BYU to second-place results in the WCC in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Pope’s first two teams at Utah Valley (2015-16 and 2016-17) and his final three teams at BYU (2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24) all finished in fifth place in their respective leagues.
Following Florida and UK, the preseason media poll also projects Tennessee (third), Alabama (fourth), Arkansas (fifth), Auburn (sixth), Missouri (seventh) and Ole Miss (eighth) to finish in the top half of the SEC.
Auburn won the SEC regular-season title last season, but the Tigers will be under new leadership this season after the recent retirement of former head coach Bruce Pearl. Steven Pearl, Bruce’s son, is Auburn’s new coach. Steven is in his 12th season with the Auburn program.
Rounding out the poll is Texas (ninth), Mississippi State (10th), Vanderbilt (11th), Oklahoma (12th), Texas A&M (13th), Georgia (14th), LSU (15th) and South Carolina (16th). Last season, LSU and South Carolina were the only SEC schools that failed to make the NCAA Tournament field.
Clara Strack earns All-SEC honors, UK women picked to finish eighth
The SEC’s preseason honors for women’s basketball were also released Monday morning.
Kentucky’s Clara Strack — who last season earned SEC defensive player of the year honors — was chosen for the preseason All-SEC second team. Last season, Strack started all 31 games for the Wildcats, averaging 15.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks.
Strack set UK single-season records for total blocks (73) and blocks per game. She also set a single-game school record for blocks with eight in a loss at Ole Miss in February.
For women’s basketball, the SEC only gives out preseason first-team and second-team honors.
UK was picked to finish eighth in the 16-team SEC in head coach Kenny Brooks’ second season in Lexington. Last season, the Wildcats went 23-8 overall and hosted NCAA Tournament games at Memorial Coliseum, losing to Kansas State in the second round.
Madison Booker of Texas is the media’s choice for women’s preseason SEC player of the year.
The preseason All-SEC first team includes Flau’Jae Johnson (LSU), Reagan Beers (Oklahoma), Joyce Edwards (South Carolina), Mikayla Blakes (Vanderbilt) and Booker.
Strack was joined on the preseason All-SEC second team by Mikayla Williams (LSU), Cotie McMahon (Ole Miss), Ta’Niya Latson (South Carolina), Talaysia Cooper (Tennessee) and Rori Harmon (Texas).
South Carolina was picked to win the league, followed by Texas, LSU, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi State, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Texas A&M, Auburn and Arkansas.
Some major SEC women’s basketball injury news also arrived Monday: South Carolina star senior Chloe Kitts was ruled out for the entire season due to a torn ACL in her right knee. Kitts earned honorable mention All-American honors last season after averaging 10.2 points and 7.7 rebounds.
This story was originally published October 13, 2025 at 11:53 AM.
