The Oklahoma men were one of 34 one-and-done teams in this year's NCAA Tournament. Sixteen teams remain from the original 68, and the Sooner basketball brand lives on in a couple of them.
After a long and frustrating three-year absence, the Sooners battled all season for a coveted spot in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, their stay was a short one, but a couple of former OU players advanced with teams that are playing on the second weekend of the tournament in the Sweet 16.
Kentucky guard Otega Oweh and Houston guard Milos Uzan were both recruited by Sooner head coach Porter Moser and played their first two college seasons at Oklahoma. Both have started every game this season for their respective teams and are key contributors to their team's success.
Makes you wonder what might have been for the Sooners if one or both had not elected to go into the transfer portal after the 2023-24 season. As you recall, Oklahoma was the first team left out of the NCAA Tournament one year ago.
Oweh and Uzan were starters on that 2023-24 Oklahoma team. Oweh averaged 11.4 points and 3.8 rebounds a game, and Uzan nine points and 3.4 rebounds, along with 4.4 assists. The Sooners' double loss undeniably has been a huge gain for their new teams.
🎶 𝐃𝐚𝐃𝐚𝐃𝐚, 𝐃𝐚𝐃𝐚𝐃𝐚 🎶#BoomerSooner ☝ | @OtegaOweh pic.twitter.com/HvIxJo74f1
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) December 6, 2023
As fate would have it, Oweh was the leading scorer on a Kentucky team that finished the regular season ranked 15th in the Associated Press Top 25 and beat Oklahoma twice this season by a single point. The junior guard averaged a career-best 16.3 points a game, and wouldn't you know, his best two scoring games of the season came against the Sooners.
Oweh made the winning basket on a driving layup at the buzzer to defeat Oklahoma in late February. He scored a career-best 28 in that contest, and then had an encore performance when the two teams met again in the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament.
As if Hollywood had scripted it, Oweh scored the winning basket for Kentucky with 20 seconds to go in the quarterfinal round of the SEC tournament, to secure an 85-84 second-consecutive, one-point come-from behind win over OU
OTEGA OWEH WINS IT!! pic.twitter.com/AdqlxTzbXI
— Rare Rookies #BBN (@rarerookies) March 14, 2025
247Sports staff writer Grant Hughes recently reported, "Oweh is the only player this century to score 25 or more points and make the game-winning basket in two separate one-point wins against the same opponent in the same season." And he did it against his former team, Oklahoma.
Moser had just a few words when asked about Oweh following OU's loss to Kentucky in the SEC tournament.
"I coached Otega," he said. "I know him, and he's very, very good."
Uzan has enjoyed a similar rise in team and individual accomplishment after leaving Norman to go play for former Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson at Houston. The 6-foot-4 junior guard has started every game this season for Sampson's Cougars. His scoring contribution has not been imperative as Oweh's given the abundance of Houston shooters that surround him, but he is equally as skilled on the court.
The former Sooner from Las Vegas, Nevada, has averaged 11.5 points per game and has reached double digits in almost half his games. Uzan only scored seven in Houston's second-round NCAA Tournament win over Gonzaga, but he had averaged 17.5 in the four previous games, including a game- and season-high 25 in a win over Arizona in the Big 12 Championship.
Both Oweh and Uzan hope to lead their teams to the Final Four, but they will have to get by this weekend first. Houston, one of the four No. 1 seeds that remain alive in the tournament, will face No. 4 Purdue, and No. 3 Kentucky goes up against fellow SEC foe Tennessee, a 2-seed.
Both games are on Friday in Indianapolis. If Houston and Kentucky both win on Friday, it will set up an Elite Eight showdown between Houston and Kentucky, and it would be the first time Uzan and Oweh have been on the same court together since leaving Norman.