FINAL: Otega Oweh saves Kentucky in final second as Wildcats beat Oklahoma 85-84 in SEC Tournament

Otega Oweh did it again, folks…

With (6) Kentucky on the brink of suffering an all-time collapse down the stretch Thursday night in Nashville, Oweh saved the Wildcats with a game-winning layup in the final second to lift his team past (14) Oklahoma 85-84 in the second round of the SEC Tournament. Oweh, who scored 28 points in the first matchup against his former team over two weeks ago, finished with 27 on the night, but none were better than the final two.

UK led by as many as 10 points in the closing minutes before nearly coughing the win away. A tough bucket from Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears gave the Sooners a one-point lead with six seconds left in the game. But Oweh came to Kentucky’s rescue again, helping the ‘Cats secure the program’s first SEC Tournament win since 2022.

SO GOOD HE DID IT TWICE 😼 pic.twitter.com/tbxjglMv90

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) March 14, 2025

Kentucky finished the night shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 8-24 from deep. Koby Brea chipped in 22 points for the Wildcats. Starting point guard Lamont Butler played only eight minutes before reaggravating his shoulder injury and sitting out the rest of the game. Fears ended up with 28 points, but he left too much time on the clock for Oweh.

UK advances to take on (3) Alabama in the quarterfinals Friday night back inside Bridgestone Arena. Tipoff is set for approximately 9:30 p.m. EST. The ‘Cats lost both games against Alabama in the regular season.

Feeding off the energy from the crowd, Kentucky came out firing on all cylinders. An immediate 8-0 run to open the game forced Oklahoma to use a timeout less than two minutes in. UK ended up making its first five shots and was seemingly on the verge of blowing the Sooners straight out of the gym. But Oklahoma responded with a 9-0 run over a three-minute stretch to take its first lead at 28-25 as UK started to go cold from deep.

To make matters worse, Butler went to the locker room with 9:35 on the clock and did not return to the bench for the rest of the game. Pope revealed during his halftime interview that Butler underwent imaging on his shoulder.

Oweh, the former Sooner, always had an answer of his own though. An and-one finish from the junior guard tied the game back up with under four minutes left in the half. A handful of free throws and a Trent Noah tip-in pushed Kentucky back up by five. Noah had six first-half rebounds in eight minutes. Both teams traded the lead in the final two minutes of the half but a dunk from Amari Williams on UK’s final possession lifted the ‘Cats to a 40-38 lead at the intermission.

Without Butler once again, head coach Mark Pope had to get creative. Neither team could break the game open with a huge run. A couple of major buckets from Ansley Almonor helped create a seven-point lead for the ‘Cats with 13 minutes left, but the Sooners continued to counter after every made bucket. At the under 8-minute media timeout, Kentucky was clinging to a 66-65 lead.

Out of the break, Oweh drained a massive triple from the corner. Brea hit one the next time down too. The following possession, Oweh bullied his way to the rim for an and-one that lifted Kentucky to a 10-point lead for the first time all night with just five minutes left in regulation. For good measure, a Brandon Garrison dunk lit the arena on fire. Oklahoma was forced to call a timeout down a dozen.

Kentucky began to milk the clock the rest of the way. Oweh stepped to the line with a little less than 90 seconds to go, knocking down both freebies to put the ‘Cats back ahead by 10. But they certainly didn’t make it easy. Oklahoma scored five straight points to make it interesting. Carr then hit one of two free throws, extending the UK lead back to six. A big three from Fears made it a three-point game with 33.8 seconds remaining.

Turnovers then became a massive issue. Oklahoma rattled off seven straight points in under 30 seconds to steal the lead. Thanks to a Fears bucket, the Sooners led 84-83 with 5.6 seconds on the clock as Kentucky called timeout. But Oweh did his thing once again by ruining his former team’s SEC Tournament run right before the buzzer.