ST. LOUIS – No one in America got a better view of March’s maddest moment so far than Mark Pope, who stood mere feet away from his leading scorer as Otega Oweh saved Kentucky’s season.
He might have done even more than that.
Hands on his hips as Oweh rose and fired, Pope stood almost precisely on the spot where an invisible line could be drawn through him, Oweh and the first S in the March Madness logo at midcourt of the Enterprise Center. As an arena held its breath, Pope heard his star bark out, “That’s a bucket.”
And it was.
In what has at times been a trying, stressful season in Lexington, the player who more than any other defines the first two years of Pope’s tenure leading his alma mater delivered a moment to erase all kinds of frustration and pain. Oweh’s banked-in 3 extended into overtime No. 7 Kentucky’s 89-84 first-round NCAA Tournament win against Santa Clara on Friday.
The Wildcats (22-13) looked destined to become another high-profile victim, joining North Carolina and Wisconsin among the ranks of the upset in the opening round of this year’s tournament. Fittingly, it was the player who has now scored more points over two years than any other Wildcat — who at times might have led his coach to pull it out if, as Pope said Friday, “I had longer hair” — that delivered the defining memory of their shared season.
In one shining moment, Oweh erased so much of a winter’s frustration, and rewrote Kentucky’s story in style.
Otega Oweh a 'unique, unique player'
St. Louis got the competitive game we all expected.
KenPom made the Wildcats just two-point favorites, and No. 10 Santa Clara (26-9) answered that projection accordingly. Despite early foul trouble that limited versatile freshman Allen Graves, the Broncos hung onto a rough-and-tumble game and a slim halftime lead (31-29), meeting Kentucky’s athletic advantage with the toughness that delivered Santa Clara’s first NCAA Tournament berth in 30 years to begin with.
This packed arena muddled along with both teams through a first half that sometimes bordered on turgid. Waiting patiently for something more inspiring, they clapped everyone off following a competitive first 20 minutes.
They got their reward soon enough. First-half grind was about to turn into second-half excellence. And no one would light the game up quite like Kentucky’s double zero.
“We’re three-quarters of the way through the first half, and (Oweh’s) got five or six or seven points,” Pope said. “And he finished the game the way he does. He’s a unique, unique player.”
'Sometimes Otega sneaks up on you'
Pope still marvels at Oweh’s ability to ambush a game.
He was not necessarily alone — after the two teams combined to shoot just 23 of 60 in the opening 20 minutes, they made 9 of 12 field goals collectively to start the second.
But Oweh’s impact spread beyond scoring.
He finished with 35 points, 28 of them after halftime. He earned 12 free-throw attempts, one fewer than Santa Clara’s team total and three more than the rest of the Wildcats combined.
If Oweh got carried away in the current of that rugged, physical first half, no one else broke the game open in the second quite like he did.
The New Jersey native, a two-time All-SEC performer, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out seven assists, his fingerprints all over the final score.
“Sometimes Otega sneaks up on you,” Pope said, smiling. “This guy, man, he just shows up every single game in only a unique Otega Oweh way. It’s just brilliant.”
To its credit, Santa Clara answered time and again. A game featuring 20 lead changes needs equal partners, and Herb Sendek’s team duly obliged.
Elijah Mahi scored 20 points on 16 field goal attempts. Sash Gavalyugov nearly doubled his scoring average, with 16 points that backfilled what Graves’ foul trouble left behind. Graves himself scored 15 after halftime, none more important in the moment than the three he drained with just more than two seconds left in the second half.
Here, Sendek might have legitimate grievance.
After Graves’ 3 left everyone on the floor briefly stunned, Denzel Aberdeen rushed the ball into an already moving Oweh. The clock appeared to start a half-beat late, allowing Oweh an extra dribble as Sendek shouted from the Santa Clara bench for a timeout.
Had he been granted time, Sendek might have been able to design a better defense, or instruct his team to foul up three points. Instead, he watched as Gavalyugov’s late contest could not quite reach Oweh’s leaning heave.
“I was just trying to get the ball out quick, and get as close as I can to the goal,” Oweh said. “I was looking at the clock the whole time.”
Just seconds earlier, Oweh looked like the hero when his spinning layup tied the score briefly with 9.9 seconds left. That, it turned out, was just an opening act.
Brandon Garrison played key role, too
Pope spared a thought for the Broncos on Friday, though Sendek probably captured the emotional swings of the afternoon best when he described it as “a really euphoric high, followed by a tough one to swallow.”
He also confirmed he was trying — demonstrably, upon video review — to call timeout before Oweh’s banker.
“I unequivocally called timeout, but they didn’t grant it,” Sendek said afterward. “(Calling timeout) is a likely response after Allen hits the 3. Any coach would be calling timeout to set the defense, which I tried to do.”
Context fades with time. March-made legends don’t.
Oweh parried his glory postgame, taking every opportunity to praise teammates who earned it themselves.
Like Brandon Garrison, who twice got fingertips to Gavalyugov 3s in overtime as part of his six-block performance.
Crucial as those moments were, they did not happen by accident. It was Garrison who, in one of Kentucky’s late-game, gut-check huddles, suggested the Wildcats start switching Santa Clara’s pick-and-pop actions. Let Garrison guard Gavalyugov, big man to point guard.
“BG just stepped up and made a call, and we all backed him,” Oweh said. “He’s a game changer.”
Oweh kept the door open. Teammates forced Kentucky’s way through. Then their star man finished it at free-throw line, his final pair stretching the lead to two possessions with 17 seconds left. After 45 stressful minutes, a big blue party broke out in the Enterprise Center.
“These guys just keep getting up,” Pope said. “We get knocked down. They keep getting up and they keep getting up and they keep getting up.”
St. Louis first hosted the NCAA Tournament in 1973. This was the 57th game played in the Gateway City.
Phi Slama Jama played here. North Carolina beat Illinois in the 2005 final here. Kentucky won its 1978 national championship here.
In pure weight, Oweh’s buzzer-beating bank won’t be remembered the same way. But it carries the same magic, that particular kind of moment that manifests the beauty of this month.
When his team had no options remaining, other than defeat, Oweh stepped forward and reset the Wildcats’ season. Depending upon what Kentucky does with this second chance, he might have redefined it entirely.
“We’re not,” Oweh said, “done playing yet.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Otega Oweh saved Kentucky basketball's season vs Santa Clara
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