Otega Oweh's buzzer-beater rescues Kentucky in SEC Tournament opener against Oklahoma

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Mar 14, 2025

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For the first time in three years, the Kentucky Wildcats have won a game in the SEC Tournament.

It came in shocking fashion, with Otega Oweh hitting a shot with 0.5 seconds on the clock to give the Cats an 85-84 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners.

The win might have come at a great cost. The Cats beat Oklahoma without starting point guard Lamont Butler, who left the game Thursday night midway through the first half after reinjuring his left shoulder.

Butler has missed six games over the past two months while dealing with the injury, which he originally suffered in a win over Texas A&M on Jan. 14 and then reinjured in a victory over Tennessee on Feb. 11.

On Thursday night, he appeared to injure the shoulder again while driving toward the basket midway through the first half. He checked out of the game with 9:35 remaining in the period and was officially ruled out midway through the second half.

There was no official word on Butler’s status moving forward. Kentucky will play Alabama — the 3 seed in the SEC Tournament — Friday night.

The Crimson Tide defeated the Cats in both of the regular-season meetings between the two teams. They last met on Feb. 22 in Tuscaloosa, with Bama beating UK 96-83.

After losing a six-point lead with less than 40 seconds left, Oweh drove toward the basket and hit a shot to lift Kentucky to the victory. UK led for nearly the final 14 minutes of the game until losing its advantage at the very end.

The Sooners narrowed the score to 83-80 on a 3-pointer by Jeremiah Fears with 33.8 seconds left and then forced a turnover, leading to a dunk by Jalon Moore on the other end.

After that, another UK turnover led to Fears hitting a driving layup to put the Sooners ahead 84-83 with 5.6 seconds left. Then Oweh hit his game-winner. Oweh, who played the previous two seasons at Oklahoma, scored 27 points against his former team after starring for UK in a victory in Norman two weeks ago.

Oweh also had four rebounds, five assists and three steals. Koby Brea added 22 points and went 4-for-7 from 3-point range.

Andrew Carr had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Cats.

The game didn’t tip off until 10:46 p.m. EDT, more than an hour later than expected because of delays in the three SEC Tournament matchups that came before it.

The late start didn’t do anything to dull the crowd inside Bridgestone Arena, which consisted almost entirely of Kentucky fans, who erupted with two separate chants of “Go Big Blue!” before the game even started.

When the action did begin, it was all Wildcats.

Kentucky scored on its first three possessions — and got stops on the Sooners’ first three trips down the court — to take an 8-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.

That prompted Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser to call a quick timeout, and the crowd belted out a third “Go Big Blue!” chant as the teams headed toward their respective benches.

The Cats ultimately hit their first five shots of the game, opening up a 12-3 lead in the first three minutes. Oklahoma hung around, however, and the Sooners eventually took their first lead of the game — a 26-25 advantage — amid a string of six straight misses for the Wildcats.

Oweh ended that skid with an and-one drive to tie the game at 28 with 4:11 left in the first half.

That ignited an 8-0 run for the Cats, who briefly surrendered the lead again late in the half before the teams traded points as the period came to an end.

A dunk by Amari Williams with 22 seconds left gave Kentucky a 40-38 lead going into the break. Kentucky beat Oklahoma 83-82 in the only regular-season meeting between the two teams 15 days earlier, with Oweh scoring the final 18 points of the game for UK to lead the Cats to a victory against his former team.

The Cats had lost their first game in the SEC Tournament in each of the past two seasons under John Calipari, who had just one win in his final six SEC Tournament games as Kentucky’s head coach. Calipari, now in his first season at Arkansas, was eliminated from this year’s tournament by Ole Miss earlier in the day.