Otega Oweh is excelling at being present in the moment -- on and off the court

Mark Pope told a light-hearted story about one of his student-athletes following Kentucky’s 93-85 win over Louisville, putting an emphasis on the student aspect of being a college athlete. He gave a shoutout to junior guard Otega Oweh for being present in the classroom, referencing a time Oweh showed up early to one of his morning classes after an early shootaround.

“Our guys have made a renewed commitment to be present in class every day,” Pope said. “And Otega happens to have an early morning class where he’s getting better and better at being present. Couple of days ago, it was all hands on deck, making sure he was there. Two minutes after class, we got a video from him, of him, sitting in an empty classroom because class was canceled and we didn’t know about it. He is the epitome of present. In fact, I’m gonna try to get him to put out the video. I’ll try to get him to post it. It’s actually so delightful.”

The point of this story? Oweh continues to get better and better at being one with the moment — be that in the classroom or the hardwood. Not getting too high or too low after one good or one bad play. He wasn’t a huge factor in the first half of the win over Louisville, but by the final buzzer, he was second on the team in scoring and hit all the big shots that Kentucky needed down the stretch.

“I was a little quiet throughout the game, so I just wanted to keep on being aggressive,” Oweh said afterward.

Oweh finished his night with 17 points on 7-11 shooting (1-2 3PT) in addition to three assists, two steals, and one rebound in 27 minutes. But here’s what he did in just the final three minutes of regulation: nine points, two steals, and one rebound. His lone three-pointer of the night was a corner shot that effectively served as the game’s kill shot, giving Kentucky a 10-point lead with just 70 seconds to go.

At times, it felt like Oweh faded into the background (Lamont Butler outshining everyone with 33 points on a perfect 10-10 shooting had something to do with that) against the Cards. But he never let it affect his approach or confidence.

“One of the great things about O is he’s just in the moment,” Pope said. “I think he’s got a pretty great capacity of just being dialed into the moment and not spending a lot of time worrying about the consequences of what might happen or what just did happen. He’s just pretty good at being present. He’s actually really good at it.

“He’s present. He’s really present. He’s present in class, he’s present on the court, he’s present in the closing minutes.”

But being present doesn’t have to mean something as simple as going to class or moving onto the next play in a game. It can be a bit more complex than that. Oweh is making it a point to be present during this entire season. These are the memories he’s going to remember for a very long time and he wants to ensure they stick with him.

“I’m not gonna lie, at this point, every day is something that I’ll just always remember for the rest of my life,” Oweh said. “This is a game I’m gonna always remember… Just being a part of Kentucky, there’s so many things that are gonna happen day in and day out that you’re just always going to remember.”

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