Mark Pope Lifts Otega Oweh After Breakout Defensive Showing:

Mark Pope Lifts Otega Oweh After Breakout Defensive Showing: “Welcome Back, My Friend”

For the first couple of weeks of the 2025–26 season, something felt a little off with Otega Oweh. Fans noticed it, Mark Pope noticed it, and you could tell Oweh himself felt the weight of it. The explosive downhill guard who became a fan favorite last season just hadn’t looked like the same relentless, full-throttle competitor. The scoring was there double figures in every game so far but the edge, that defensive bite that made him one of Kentucky’s most complete two-way weapons, had been missing. And Pope needed it back.

All it took was one night, one opponent, and one small spark in an 88–46 blowout over Loyola (MD) to make Pope stop mid-press conference, smile, and deliver the line that instantly made headlines: “Welcome back, my friend.”

Finding His Old Self Again

It happened on defense, which is exactly where Pope has been begging Oweh to replant his feet. The 11 points against Loyola didn’t tell the story he could sleepwalk his way to double-digits. What changed was the demeanor. The physicality. The refusal to let anybody get comfortable with the ball. Pope pointed to a couple of early defensive possessions that caught his attention, plays where Oweh fought through screens, cut off penetrators, and showed the fire that made him so dangerous last year.

“We saw a couple possessions of Otega Oweh defense that we haven’t seen,” Pope said after the win. “The passion and commitment defensively. That’s where he’s gonna build his game. I felt like, welcome back, my friend. Let’s go with that, where you just refuse to let anybody get by you.”

Pope wasn’t hiding his relief, either. He’s been waiting for this version of Oweh since the season tipped off. Not the scorer, but the enforcer the one who doesn’t need help on ball screens, the one who sets the tone for the rest of the team just by deciding he isn’t getting beat.

“That guy is our guy,” Pope said. “Him finding that a little bit, maybe for the first time all season, meant a lot to me.”

On paper, Oweh’s three steals were the highlight, but the stat sheet didn’t capture how active he was. Five rebounds, two assists, much louder communication, and a noticeable willingness to hold teammates accountable. There was a moment where Brandon Garrison threw the ball away in transition, and Oweh immediately lit into him not out of frustration, but out of leadership. Even with Kentucky up 20-plus, Oweh refused to let standards slip.

And that’s what Pope has been searching for: not just production, but presence.

What makes the timing of all this meaningful is what happened earlier in the week. Michigan State had punched the Wildcats hard, and Oweh, by his own standards, didn’t show up. Pope said afterward he believed that poor outing “hit him personally,” and Oweh confirmed it with how he approached the Loyola game. The body language was different. The energy was back. The swagger had returned in pieces still rebuilding, but beginning to resemble the version Big Blue Nation expected.

Kentucky needed this, too. Six games in, this team has already faced more turbulence than most November schedules bring. Injuries, uneven performances, rough road moments none of it has felt easy. So even if Loyola wasn’t the type of opponent to truly battle Kentucky, a 42-point win still carried emotional weight. It felt like a reset button for a group that needed one, and Oweh’s mini-revival was at the center of that.

“When things are going well, it’s easy to be happy,” Oweh said after the game. “But when shit hits the fan, you have to turn to your brothers and really lean in.”

That’s exactly what he did Friday night. He leaned in, dug deep, and rediscovered something he thought he’d misplaced. Pope saw it. His teammates saw it. The fans felt it. It wasn’t a perfect game, it wasn’t a season-defining moment, but it was a step one that mattered far more than the lopsided score.

And if Mark Pope is right, this might be the night that marks Oweh’s turning point. The night he got his edge back. The night he found that voice again. The night he once again became the player Kentucky needs him to be.

Or in Pope’s words: “Welcome back, my friend.”