Basketball gods just do not seem to be in favor of Kentucky. Thursday night had everything—thrilling highs and brutal lows. The Wildcats pulled off a win against Oklahoma, thanks to a last-second bucket from Otega Oweh. But before they could even soak in the victory, disaster struck. Their best perimeter defender, Lamont Butler, who’s been battling a lingering shoulder injury, went down again and was listed OUT for the next game. Losing him was already bad news, especially with Alabama. And just when it seemed like things couldn’t get worse, well, they did.  

At the 11:24 mark in the first half against Alabama, Oweh hit the floor—hard. Blood. Visible pain. A whole mess. He took a shot to the face while defending Labaron Philon, who caught him with an inadvertent elbow as he drove to the basket. The officials reviewed the play but ruled it a clean basketball move, so no foul. 

Then, Oweh spent a good chunk of time in the locker room tending to what Kentucky beat writer Aaron Gershon hinted might be yet another stitches situation. 

But in a much-needed break of good news, he later returned to the bench with just over six minutes left in the half and checked back in at the 5:30 mark—sporting a fresh cut on his lip but ready to keep fighting.  

It’s been a brutal stretch for Kentucky, but Mark Pope trusts his guys. Becuase when asked about Oweh’s absence, he answered, “We just move on to the next guys. Unfortunately, we have a ton of experience doing that and they’ve responded really well. So that’s what we’ll do right now.”

SEC Network’s Molly McGrath gave a little update on Oweh, saying, “They’re not too concerned about his ability to return, but I am being told that he is still being evaluated.” So basically, not much, but at least it’s not panic mode. And listen, Oweh is a big piece of Kentucky’s offense. We literally just saw him play hero against Oklahoma.

When the Sooners took the lead with five seconds left, Oweh wasn’t having it. He took the inbound, flew down the court, and nailed the game-winning layup with 0.5 seconds on the clock. Not only did that send Kentucky to the SEC tournament quarterfinals, but fun fact: that was actually Oweh’s second game-winning shot against his former team this season. 

Even Before he got hurt against Bama, he’d put up two points and 3 rebounds and was looking locked in despite Kentucky’s brutal schedule. More than anything, the Wildcats are already dealing with more than enough problems in this matchup.

Kentucky’s fighting more than just Otega Oweh’s injury

So the first problem was fatigue. The Wildcats were already in a tough spot before they even hit the court. After Ole Miss and Arkansas kicked things off at noon ET, Texas and Texas A&M followed up with an absolute thriller—double overtime and all. Great for fans, terrible for Kentucky. 

That delay pushed the Wildcats’ tip-off back by an hour, making their already brutal schedule even worse. And after all that, the win brought another realization: they’d be playing again in just a few hours.  

Alabama beat reporter Nick Kelly wrote on X, “Kentucky’s game just wrapped at 12:08 a.m., so that means the Wildcats will play two games in the same day.”  Pope’s squad barely had 12 hours to recover before suiting up against Alabama—who, by the way, has already beaten them twice this season. And neither game was close. 

The first matchup in Lexington ended with a 102-97 shootout. In the rematch Kentucky fought early but couldn’t keep up, losing 96-83. Now, they’re back for round three, but this time, even more short-handed.  

With Lamont Butler out, the weight shifted onto Otega Oweh, Andrew Carr, and Koby Brea. And Oweh was supposed to be the X-factor, leading the charge on offense (averaging 16.5 points). Kentucky was already staring down one of the most explosive offenses in the country. Combine that with a Wildcat squad running on fumes, and, well… the odds aren’t looking great. 

So, with fatigue, injuries, and a brutal opponent stacked against them—and still trailing in the second half—can Kentucky pull off this miracle win? Or will Mark Sears & Co. clinch the third one as well?