Five things you need to know from No. 17 Kentucky’s thrilling 83-82 win at Oklahoma
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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.
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Five things you need to know from No. 17 Kentucky’s 83-82 men’s basketball win at Oklahoma on Wednesday night:
1. Otega Oweh’s epic Oklahoma homecoming. In his return to the Lloyd Noble Center to play against his former team, the Kentucky guard turned in a performance that will long live in Wildcats basketball lore.
Oweh finished with a career-high 28 points, 23 in the second half. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound junior scored Kentucky’s final 18 points of the game.
The last two of that 18-point rampage came on a twisting shot in the lane with six seconds left, and provided UK with the winning margin.
The best game of Oweh’s Kentucky career to date came after the worst performance of his season. In UK’s 96-83 loss at Alabama on Saturday, Oweh scored only two points before fouling out. It was the first time as a Wildcat that Oweh had failed to score in double figures.
In his two seasons playing at Oklahoma, Oweh scored 498 points as a Sooner. So far in his first season at Kentucky, Oweh has 423 points.
As “How do you like me now?” moments go, Otega Oweh’s return to Norman will go down as an all-timer.
2. Two injured Cats return. As was foretold when Kentucky’s Tuesday night injury report listed Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson as “probable” to play at Oklahoma, the Wildcats got their second- and third-leading scorers back on the court after multi-game absences.
Alas, for different reasons, neither were on the court at game’s end.
Robinson entered Wednesday night’s contest averaging 13.3 points, but had not played since scoring six points in UK’s 80-57 strafing of South Carolina on Feb. 8. In the prior day’s practice, Robinson had suffered a wrist injury that subsequently sidelined him for four games.
Against Oklahoma, Robinson started and scored seven points in 12 first-half minutes.
However, the Ada, Oklahoma, product, did not return to play after halftime. That, obviously, is worrisome for a player who has been battling an injury.
Butler came into the Oklahoma contest averaging 12.5 points but had not played since re-aggravating a shoulder injury while scoring six points during UK’s 75-64 win over Tennessee on Feb. 11. He subsequently missed three games.
However, the San Diego State transfer also started for Kentucky on Wednesday and logged 20 minutes of playing time. After scoring seven points, grabbing four rebounds and doling out six assists, Butler fouled out with 4:16 left in the game and UK down 75-73.
The veteran point guard’s overall importance for UK was shown by the fact that, in a one-point game, Kentucky was plus-10 against Oklahoma with Butler on the court.
3. Another Cat makes a triumphant return to Oklahoma. With Kentucky center Amari Williams battling foul trouble, UK badly needed backup center Brandon Garrison to step up.
The Oklahoma City product did that in a big way.
A 6-10, 250-pound sophomore, Garrison spent his return to the state of Oklahoma stuffing his stat sheet. He was Kentucky’s second-leading scorer with 12 points. The transfer from Oklahoma State hit 5 of 8 shots including 2 of 3 treys. Garrison also had four rebounds, three blocked shots and three steals.
After Otega Oweh scored with six seconds left to put Kentucky ahead 83-82, Garrison blocked Jeremiah Fears’ attempt at a game-winner for Oklahoma with one second left.
4. Kentucky vs. SEC newcomers. For the third straight time, UK has split against two Southeastern Conference newcomers in their first seasons after joining the league.
Against the 1991-92 SEC expansion additions, Kentucky won at South Carolina 80-63 on Jan. 4, 1992, but fell to Arkansas at Rupp Arena 105-88 on Jan. 25, 1992.
For the 2012-13 expansion cycle, UK lost at home to Texas A&M 83-71 but beat Missouri at Rupp Arena 90-83 in overtime.
In this current debut season of a 16-team SEC, Kentucky lost at Texas 82-78 on Feb. 15 but won at Oklahoma 11 days later.
5. Current SEC coaches vs. the Cats. With the Wildcats’ win over Oklahoma in the books, UK has now played at least once against every current Southeastern Conference head coach.
This is how all 16 SEC head men have fared head-to-head vs. UK:
▪ Alabama: Nate Oats is 5-5 vs. UK overall, 5-4 with the Crimson Tide.
▪ Arkansas: John Calipari is 3-4 vs. UK overall, 1-0 with the Razorbacks.
▪ Auburn: Bruce Pearl is 10-18 vs. UK overall, 6-9 with the Tigers.
▪ Florida: Todd Golden is 1-4 vs. UK.
▪ Georgia: Mike White is 6-12 vs. UK, 2-2 with the Bulldogs.
▪ Kentucky: Mark Pope went 0-1 vs. UK at Utah Valley.
▪ LSU: Matt McMahon is 1-1 vs. UK.
▪ Mississippi: Chris Beard is 1-2 vs. UK overall, 1-1 with the Rebels.
▪ Mississippi State: Chris Jans is 0-4 vs. UK.
▪ Missouri: Dennis Gates is 1-1 vs. UK.
▪ Oklahoma: Porter Moser is 0-1 vs. UK.
▪ South Carolina: Lamont Paris is 2-1 vs. UK.
▪ Tennessee: Rick Barnes is 12-14 vs. UK, 11-12 with the Volunteers.
▪ Texas: Rodney Terry is 1-0 vs. UK.
▪ Texas A&M: Buzz Williams is 2-5 vs. UK, 2-4 with the Aggies.
▪ Vanderbilt: Mark Byington is 1-1 vs. UK.
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 11:51 PM.
