Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Oklahoma (SEC Tournament)
Kentucky plays its first game in the 2025 Southeastern Tournament on Thursday at 9:30, and the Cats now know who their opponent will be.
UK will take on Oklahoma, who beat Georgia 81-75 on Wednesday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
This will be the second meeting of the season between the Cats and the Sooners. On February 26, Kentucky topped Oklahoma 83-82 at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman. In that game, former Sooner Otega Oweh returned to Norman and scored a career-high 28 points, including 18 of UK’s final 21 points in the game. For extra emphasis, he blocked a potential Oklahoma game winner at the buzzer.
Oklahoma got 20 points from Jalon Moore and 18 from Jeremiah Fears in the game.
The Cats made 18 of 24 at the line in the game, while Oklahoma made 12 of 17.
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope hopes that he has prepared his team for the postseason simply by doing the things that Kentucky teams do.
“The great thing about being at the University of Kentucky is that every game is a one and done. That’s what we do,” Pope said. “It’s the privilege of playing, coaching and being associated with this program that every single game feels like that. For us, there’s some comfort in that. You don’t know how to turn the temperature up more.”
Without question, Pope knows why his team is in Nashville this week and he knows how they can go about getting where they would like to go.
“Our goal is to come here and win,” Pope said. “But the way that we’re going to win is we’re going to come here and think about this possession. We’re going to be lost with our whole heart in this possession. Then when the next possession comes, we’re going to be lost in that possession. If we can do that consistently, we’re going to be successful.”
The Cats potential postseason run begins on Thursday night in Nashville.
UK Wins at Missouri to End Regular Season
Kentucky won its eighth game against an Associated Press Top-15 opponent this season, tying an NCAA record, as the Cats picked off Mizzou, 91-83, on the road Saturday.
The Cats scored at least 90 points for the 12th time this season, and shot over 50 percent from 3-point range for the fifth time to hand Missouri just its second loss on its home court of the year.
Otega Oweh had 22 points, 20 of which came in the second half to lead UK. Andrew Carr had 16 points and 12 rebounds to post his third double-double of the season and first in SEC play. Koby Brea finished with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Amari Williams scored 14 and had eight boards, reaching 1,000 rebounds for his college career.
Kentucky trailed 11-4 early but used an 11-0 run to lead 15-11. The Cats would remain in front the rest of the way, leading by as many as 16 points in the early stages of the second half.
Some additional notes from the game:
• UK matches the 1978-79 Duke team and the 1992-93 Indiana squad with eight wins over AP Top-15 opponents
• All three Kentucky freshmen (Chandler, Noah and Perry) hit a 3-pointer in the game for just the second time this season (Jackson State)
• The Cats scored 20 points off turnovers, their most since 20 against Florida in the SEC opener
• UK committed just 10 turnovers on the day. The Tigers entered as the SEC leaders, forcing 14.3 giveaways per game
• Koby Brea became the 14th player in school history with at least 80 made 3s in a single season
• Amari Williams hit a career-high 10 free throws
• Collin Chandler scored eight points off the bench. He has scored 19 points over the last two games after having just 38 total points all season prior
Kentucky in the SEC Tournament
Kentucky has 31 SEC Tournament titles all-time, 23 more than Alabama, who has the second most with eight. The Wildcats last SEC Tournament championship came in 2018 when UK defeated Tennessee in the title game. Kentucky is 135-30 all-time in the SEC Tournament.
This will mark for the first SEC Tournament for head coach Mark Pope. He owns an 8-9 conference tournament record as a head coach between Utah Valley and BYU.
Oweh Named All-SEC by Coaches
Otega Oweh was named to the All-Southeastern Conference Second Team by the league’s coach, marking the first all conference honors of his career.
Oweh led the Wildcats by averaging 16.2 points per game during the regular season. He began the season by scoring in double-figures in each of the team’s first 26 games, the only player in the SEC to reach that benchmark. He’s topped double-digits in 29 games overall and eclipsed the 20-point plateau on 11 occasions, including eight in league play.
Oweh is having a career season for the Wildcats, enjoying career bests in scoring average (16.2), rebounds per game (4.8), assists per game (1.6), steals per game (1.5) and blocks per game (0.5).
