Otega Oweh, Malachi Moreno Among All-SEC Awardees
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Kentucky men’s basketball players Otega Oweh and Malachi Moreno took home All-Southeastern Conference honors on Monday, with Oweh named to the second team and Moreno an all-freshman selection as voted by the league’s coaches.
For Oweh, this marks his second-consecutive bid to the All-SEC Second Team, while Moreno is the first All-Freshman Team honoree at Kentucky under head coach Mark Pope.
Oweh has had a monster senior season for the Wildcats, averaging career bests of 18.2 points, 2.7 assists and 1.8 steals to go along with 4.5 rebounds. He has continued to deliver consistent scoring production, scoring in double figures in 30 of 31 regular-season games, including 16 games with 20 or more points.
The senior guard upped his output during SEC play, averaging 21.1 points and topping the 20-point threshold in 14 of 18 games, the most of any player in the conference. During his two-year UK career, Oweh has posted 22 games against SEC opponents with 20 or more points, the most by any Wildcat since at least 1996-97. He is the fifth Wildcat since 1996-97 to average 21.0 points per game in SEC action joining Jodie Meeks, Jamal Murray, Antonio Reeves and Malik Monk as others to achieve the feat.
Oweh has scored 1,148 total points, the third-most ever by a transfer at UK and the fourth most points by a Wildcat in their first two years with the program.
Moreno has been an immediate contributor for Kentucky, starting 25 of 31 games and leading the team in rebounding and blocked shots. The freshman center is averaging 8.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.6 blocks per game, while shooting a team-best 58.7 percent from the field and posting three double-doubles. He ranks seventh among freshmen in the conference in scoring, second in rebounds and first in blocks. The Cats are 10-1 on the season when Moreno scores in double-figures.
Among his most memorable moments this season was his game-winning buzzer beater at LSU, helping complete an epic, 18-point comeback for UK. Moreno was also selected to the SEC Community Service Team last week.
A complete list of SEC award winners can be seen here.
Kentucky begins play at the SEC Tournament on Wednesday, taking on LSU at 12:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
