Kentucky guard and leading scorer Otega Oweh will withdraw from the 2025 NBA Draft and return to Kentucky next season, he announced on Wednesday.
Oweh's decision, which came just hours ahead of the 11:59 PM ET deadline, likely cements UK's status as a legitimate national title contender and goes a long way in shaping the 2025-26 college basketball season.
Oweh, who was considered a fringe second round pick, attended the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago and worked out for a number of NBA teams, including the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday morning.
Last offseason, BYU transfer and Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Jaxson Robinson withdrew just ahead of the deadline before committing to Kentucky and was the Wildcats' second-leading scorer before suffering a season-ending wrist injury.
UK head coach Mark Pope said he expects Oweh to make a massive leap in Year 2 with the Wildcats.
"Like all of us, he has so much room to grow," Pope said. "I think his ceiling as a playmaker, he hasn't even begun to tap into that. I think he can become an elite, elite-level playmaker. Something that he's talked a lot about is his ability to get his shot off more quickly. He shot the ball really well last year at 36, 37 percent from 3, but to get it off quicker and get more attempts, I think is a big deal for him. On the defensive end, his ability to kind of neutralize bigs on the glass and bigs in switches is a place where he can really excel and I think he has a chance to grow into one of the elite steals guys in the country. He's got a ton of room to grow. He's an unbelievable player who had a great season last year and it's pretty fun to talk about."
The Second Team All-SEC selection averaged a team-high 16.2 points to go along with 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.6 steals while starting all 36 games for the Wildcats this season.
Oweh, a transfer from Oklahoma, scored in double figures in 33 of 36 games with 13 games of 20 points or more, including a career-high 28 points and the game-winner against the Sooners in Norman. He also scored 27 points and beat his former team at the buzzer in the SEC Tournament.
In a 76-57 win over Troy in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Oweh became the first UK player since Walter McCarty in 1996 with 20+ points, 8+ rebounds, and 5+ assists in an NCAA Tournament game.
Among Kentucky transfers, only Antonio Reeves (667 points in 2023-24) and national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe (590 points in 2021-22) scored more points in a season than Oweh's 584 points this season.
Upon leaving Oklahoma last offseason, Oweh was ranked as the No. 31 overall transfer in the portal by 247Sports. In 247Sports' final re-rank of the 2024 portal class, Oweh finished No. 7 overall.