KSR Film Room: Otega Oweh

Slowly but surely Coach Mark Pope and his staff are building a roster for year one at Kentucky. The positive momentum from Lamont Butler’s commitment on Friday bled over into Saturday as the ‘Cats landed Otega Oweh. It didn’t take long for the Oklahoma transfer to make his decision following his visit to Lexington. Now, there are five players on the roster coming out of a weekend that also included Aidan Mahaney (Saint Mary’s) and Andrew Carr (Wake Forest) as visitors. The next couple of weeks promises to be big as the roster-building efforts continue.

Coach Pope’s first three transfer portal additions are all elite defenders. Amari Williams was arguably the best interior defender in the portal while the same could be said about Lamont Butler on the perimeter. Oweh isn’t far behind at all having averaged 1.5 steals per game this past season and finished in the Top 100 in steal rate nationally. At 6’5″ and 215 pounds he has the requisite body type to be very disruptive in the passing lanes. With early additions like Oweh, Butler, and Williams there should be no worries that the Wildcats will be significantly better defensively.

As always, we’ve been grinding the tape in the KSR Film Room breaking down Kentucky’s latest commitment. Oweh is explosive in transition, drives it hard going right, and is an effective cutter. He also is an underrated catch-and-shoot threat shooting 37.8% from three last season in those opportunities. However, the athleticism and defensive ability is ultimately why you go get Otega Oweh. If the goals are to get older, more physical, and better defensively he certainly checks those three boxes.

Defense

As soon as Otega Oweh hit the transfer portal there were Kentucky fans hoping to land him because of his defensive prowess. At the time, the woes of poor defense were still extra fresh and guys such as Amari Williams and Lamont Butler hadn’t yet been added to the equation. However, even now, you can never have too many elite defensive players. Oweh is going to a disruptive force in the passing lanes with his length and athleticism. As a starter in the Big 12 last season at Oklahoma he averaged 1.5 steals per game. You’ll see from some of these clips the impact that he can have on that end of the floor.

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Any lazy passes in the presence of Otega Oweh will be immediately picked off. He does an excellent job of jumping passing lanes when he can anticipate the ball coming his direction. Look for the Oklahoma transfer to create several easy fast break baskets with his defense next season.

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This is where length comes into play. When you are 6’5″ with long arms it is much easier to make this play without fouling than it would be for a smaller defender. For the first time in a long time, Kentucky is going to have a team full of guys who have gotten to know the weight room and have physical tools beyond simply being incredibly athletic. The traits that Oweh displays defensively will make him an impact guy on that end of the floor right away in the Southeastern Conference.

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Being an elite defender is about far more than collecting steals and blocking shots. In this clip, you see how Otega Oweh can impact the game without recording a stat. This is perfect one-on-one defensive execution. He closes out under control, moves his feet to stay with his defender on the drive, and then doesn’t bail him out by fouling while he drives it left. The result is a low-percentage shot that Oklahoma rebounds. This defense is just as valuable as any steal or block.

Transition + Driving + Cutting

You don’t average 11.4 points per game as a sophomore in the Big 12 by accident. Otega Oweh was the second leading scorer for an Oklahoma team that won 20 games and narrowly missed out on the NCAA Tournament. Any concerns there may be about his offensive ability are either overblown or completely unfounded. Here we will take a look at some of Oweh’s offensive strengths and how they will translate to Kentucky’s lineup.

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There is a versatility to Oweh’s offensive game that is really intriguing. He is an active cutter which allows for plays like this where he flashes to the rim and then posts up off of the block. This is a good example of how you can space the floor even with a guard who isn’t an elite shooting threat. Inverting the offense and posting a guy like Oweh is a great use of him offensively. His combination of size, strength, and athleticism allows him to be effective posting up other guards. It is easy to envision Oweh scoring like this in Coach Pope’s offense.

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Even the slightest misstep on a closeout will allow Otega Oweh to explode to the basket. #10 Furphy was a bit too heavy-footed and Oweh made him pay by getting downhill for the And-1. Having the quickness to beat the closeout along with the strength to play through contact is a tough combination for opposing defenses to handle.

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Oweh was utilized a lot in transition during his time at Oklahoma. His athleticism really pops in the open floor and he is a great driver off of the throw ahead. In an offensive system that will likely look to play fast, Oweh fits in very nicely. Also, three-point shooting becomes less important in transition. Spacing isn’t necessarily as big of a concern when you can attack before the defense is set.

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Along with what he can do off of the bounce as a driver, Oweh has also proven to be an effective cutter. Per Synergy, he shot 69.2% from the field last season off of cuts. That means he is doing an excellent job of getting himself into an area where he can score it at a high percentage. This clip provides a perfect example of what Oweh brings to the table as a cutter. As the ball gets driven along the baseline, Oweh notices his defender turn his head so he immediately cuts directly to the front of the rim. Size and athleticism are two key traits for an effective cutter and Oweh has both in spades.

Shooting

Last season, BYU took 50.4% of their shots from three-point range. However, so far in the transfer portal, Coach Pope has yet to add a knockdown shooter. Otega Oweh made 37.7% of his attempts, but only made 20 in 32 games. It is hard to know if that percentage would hold up over higher volume. However, he was consistently good in catch-and-shoot opportunities and those will be the ones that come to him next season at Kentucky. Similar to Lamont Butler, if Oweh can just make the defense pay for going under ballscreens and handoffs it’ll be enough to space the floor.

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If Oweh can consistently make this shot next season there will be no issues with his shooting ability. When the defense goes underneath the ballscreens or handoffs he has to be able to make them pay. He certainly flashed the ability to do that last season as seen in this clip.

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Not only was Oweh high percentage in catch-and-shoot situations, but he was actually even better when closely guarded according to Synergy. There is nothing about his mechanics that would keep him from seeing a jump in his three-point shooting numbers. Similar to the previous clip, Oweh needs to be able to make the defense pay for playing too far off of him.

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There will be other playmakers surrounding Oweh to get him shots like this. Also, Coach Pope’s ability to scheme good offense will result in some open catch-and-shoot opportunities. It is fair to assume the offensive system will bring out the best in whatever players end up in Lexington. Oweh is a proven double-figure scorer for a good team at the power conference level. His transition to Kentucky, both offensively and defensively, should be a rather smooth one.

Evaluation

Athleticism and defensively ability are the first two qualities that jump off the page when evaluating Otega Oweh. The 6’5″ 215-pound guard is explosive in transition with the ability to score it from the throw ahead. He can also attack closeouts in the half-court, slash his way to the basket, and cut off of the ball to use his athleticism and strength to finish inside. Oweh made 37.8% of his catch-and-shoot three-point attempts, but it was at a low volume. That will be his area to work on moving forward that could really take his game to a new ceiling. However, as it stands, Oweh is a disruptive defender that can impact the game as a slasher and right-hand driver as well. Proven starter for a good Big 12 team. Quality rotation piece is the floor with SEC All-Defense being the ceiling.