Mark Pope gives positive health update on Otega Oweh ahead of season-opener
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Mark Pope and Kentucky benefited strongly from the play of Otega Oweh in the 2024-25 season. The Oklahoma transfer emerged as one of the top players in the SEC, averaging 16.2 points per game en route to second-team All-SEC honors.
Expectations are high for the senior heading into 2025-26 as the SEC’s preseason player of the year. But a turf toe injury sidelined him for 10 weeks and limited his availability for preseason practice until his return on Monday.
It’s good timing: the Wildcats host No. 1 Purdue in an exhibition on Oct. 24 and Georgetown on Oct. 30 before opening the season against Nicholls on Nov. 4.
“If you’re going to have a guy miss the first couple weeks of practice, he really has been out for almost 10 weeks now, he’s the guy to do it,” Pope said during SEC Tip-Off in Birmingham on Tuesday.
The Wildcats’ second-year head coach said that he is working to get Oweh gradually up to speed. From the sounds of it, Oweh’s anxious to get going.
“He actually was in practice a couple days ago in his first live scrimmage, really his first possession of live scrimmage, we’re all kind of walking on eggshells. He got a steal, raced down the floor, outside the free throw, dunked it,” Pope recalled.
That’s par for the course for someone like Oweh, Pope noted, mentioning that the New Jersey product has a “competitive motor” that “you cannot turn off.”
“He’s been through this. He understands it. He knows what he’s in for. He understands the pressure of the moment. He understands everything that Kentucky is. He embraces it. He can’t get enough of it,” he said.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
