Otega Oweh made the deadline decision in May to remove his name from the 2025 NBA Draft and return to Kentucky for his senior season — a major boost for coach Mark Pope. The decision was reportedly challenging with Oweh’s draft stock increasing.
“I was on a plane, and I don’t understand why or how, but the call actually came through,” Pope said in a recent retrospective. “So, Otega called me and he said, ‘Coach, let’s do this. I’m coming back.’ And I was looking around. I think the pilot was about to throw me out the plane right now, so I was like, ‘Otega! I gotta call you back later. But just hold that thought.'”
Otega pushed his decision up against the NCAA’s withdrawal deadline for underclassmen, making his choice with a handful of hours to spare. That made for a tense wait for Pope and the rest of the Kentucky staff.
“Fifteen minutes later, called him back,” Pope said. “He said he’s coming back, tears down my face. Because I knew a couple things, one, I knew how excited you are and how much you want to go play in that league. I know it’s the dream of a lifetime. And it was super humbling to see you do two things, one understand how much you want to get better, how committed you are to getting better, and second thing was to see how much you understand and appreciate what you have right now. That’s special stuff, man. So now we’re back to work, baby!”
Oweh projected to be among those selected in the 2025 NBA Draft had he not removed his name. The 6-foot-4, 212-pound guard averaged a team-high 16.2 points for Kentucky last season, adding 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. He shot 49.2% from the field and 35.5% from 3-point range. Oweh was the Wildcats’ best player on a squad that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with Pope as a first-year coach.
Oweh went from being a promising role player as an incoming transfer from Oklahoma to second-team All-SEC.
“He was super hyped all the way until he heard about the conditioning test on the first day of summer workouts,” Pope said. “Then he was like, ‘Woah, coach. Maybe I need to go back to this [NBA].'”
Kentucky could be in the mix as a potential preseason top-10 team for the 2025-26 campaign with Oweh back in the fold. CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish has the Wildcats ranked No. 12 in his latest Top 25 and 1 entering June.
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