Kentucky men’s basketball received substantial news regarding its 2025-26 roster on Wednesday afternoon, as rising senior guard Otega Oweh announced via Instagram that he will be returning to the Wildcats next season.
Oweh, who transferred to Kentucky last April after spending two seasons with the Oklahoma Sooners, had a breakout junior season.
“I found a family in Kentucky forever. Let’s run it back, I’m staying home,” Oweh announced on his social media.
Oweh finished with a team-high average of 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, along with a team-high 1.6 steals per game.
The 6-foot-4 Newark, N.J. native also served as one of the most consistent players in college basketball, scoring double-digits in 33 of the 36 games that he played in.
Prior to his inaugural season in Kentucky threads, Oweh wasn’t gaining much NBA Draft traction after his time in Norman, finishing with a small average of 4.8 points per game his freshman season and 11.4 points per game his sophomore season.
Those numbers are not near enough to stand out in comparison to those who were also seeking to hear their name called in the NBA Draft.
While Oweh’s average number of points per game as a freshman and sophomore took a big jump, there were still other parts of his play that needed some fixing, such as his jumpshot, certain defensive aspects and rebounding.
Fast forward a year later, after continuously providing standout performances on a nightly basis in a conference that sent 14 of its 16 teams to the NCAA Tournament, Oweh finally turned some heads and reached the next steps in terms of the NBA Draft process, earning an invite to the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago while holding three individual workouts with the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics.
When the interviews and workouts came to a close, Oweh ultimately decided that it would be in his best interest to forgo the NBA Draft and run it back in Lexington one last time, where he will be joining Brandon Garrison, Collin Chandler and Trent Noah on the list of returning players from last year’s roster.
Oweh and the other three returners will be accompanied by six new transfers and four incoming freshmen who are all seeking one common goal: to win the National Championship.
