Mark Pope’s club outlasts Sooners at SEC tourney

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NASHVILLE — Kentucky basketball is back in the win column at the SEC Tournament. 

After one-and-done results in the event the past two years, UK held off Oklahoma thanks to Otega Oweh, who made the game-winning basket in the closing seconds of an 85-84 victory in a second-round matchup Thursday at Bridgestone Arena. 

It marked Kentucky’s first triumph in the conference tourney since 2022, when it vanquished Vanderbilt, 77-71, in a quarterfinal matchup in Tampa, Florida. 

And the quarterfinals are where the Wildcats are now headed. Thanks to Thursday’s win, Kentucky (22-10), the 6-seed in this season’s tournament, set up a date with 3-seed Alabama; that game will tip off at approximately 9:30 p.m. Friday.  

Though UK led for more than 34 of the 40-minute game, Oklahoma rarely lost touch. The Wildcats’ largest lead was 12, which came with less than four minutes to play before the Sooners (20-13) once more trimmed the deficit and took the lead with less than a minute to play. 

Here are three takeaways from the Wildcats’ gritty win: 

Trio powers Kentucky to victory 

Otega Oweh once again tortured his former team. Oweh had a game-high 28 points in the previous meeting between these two squads last month, when UK escaped with an 83-82 victory in Norman, Oklahoma. Included in that scoring outburst: the Wildcats’ final 18 points of the game, as well as the go-ahead basket in the waning moments. 

He wasn’t quite as dominant Thursday. 

But he didn’t have to be. 

Not when he had Koby Brea and Andrew Carr on his side. 

Brea, the sharpshooting New York native, had 22 points, knocking down 75% (8 for 12) of his field-goal attempts. He was accurate as ever beyond the 3-point arc, too, making four of the seven triples he hoisted. 

Carr finished with 11 points, but more importantly, also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.  

Oh, and Oweh’s final line?  

The junior guard had 27 points (a team high, one point shy of Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears for top honor…

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Publish date : 2025-03-14 05:13:00

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