Mark Pope (UK Athletics Photo)
By KEITH TAYLOR, Kentucky Today
Kentucky coach Mark Pope had no choice but to see how things played out down the stretch on Kentucky’s 83-82 win at Oklahoma on Wednesday night.
Otega Oweh took over and scored the Wildcats’ final 18 points, including the game-winner in his return to Norman, where he played the first two years of his collegiate career before transferring to Lexington last summer.
Kentucky, Pope said, was in a “weird space” at the time but Oweh made his coach and teammates feel more relaxed while under pressure.
“We had no timeouts left, we’re just trying to figure all that out,” he said. “We had kind of run-in after our last timeout, kind of a 2-4-5 ram where we were going to either use it or reject it and we had (Brandon Garrison) popping and BG had already made a couple threes, so he was dangerous. Otega getting downhill has been incredible, and both those guys made great decisions down the stretch, and made big-time plays to get it done. That was kind of the nuts and bolts of the end of the game.”
While his team struggled especially defensively in the second half against the Sooners, Pope did say the win was another learning experience for the Wildcats.
“I don’t know how it plays with momentum,” he said. “I think there were some questions just about the chippiness of the game. It’s that time of year. Like, we’re just (at) that time of year. We’re down to the final few games and then it’s postseason play.
“I don’t know if it’s momentum. But I do think our guys captured a little added experience tonight that they will call back on when we get in a very similar game. I love that. I love that we have that in our pocket.”
One Response
We were lucky as hell to win that game. We can’t count on Oweh to have another Superman game against Auburn. It’s time for everyone to step up their effort if not their game.