Kentucky looked beaten, then Otega Oweh turned the closing seconds into the kind of scene March is built for. With Santa Clara ahead by three and the Wildcats down to one last possession, Oweh took the inbounds pass, raced into space and launched from deep near the logo. The shot hit the glass, dropped through, and changed the entire mood of the night.
From there, Kentucky steadied itself in overtime and escaped with an 89-84 win that felt much tighter, messier and far more dramatic than the final score suggests. In a tournament that lives on chaos, this was one of those first-round games that immediately earns a place in the conversation.
Oweh was at the centre of everything. The Kentucky guard finished with a career-high 35 points, adding eight rebounds and seven assists in a performance that carried his team out of danger. His game-tying shot will dominate the highlight reels, but the larger story was the weight he carried across the full night. Every time Santa Clara found a fresh answer, Kentucky seemed to turn back to Oweh.
A finish that belonged to March
Santa Clara had every reason to believe it had done enough. Allen Graves buried a late three-pointer to push the Broncos in front 73-70 with only seconds remaining, and the upset was within touching distance. Instead, the final sequence unfolded too quickly for Kentucky to panic and too quickly for Santa Clara to fully reset.
Oweh caught the inbounds pass with momentum, moved up the floor and released a long three that banked in at the horn. It was instinctive, improvised and completely suited to the tournament stage. Speaking afterward, he captured the emotion of the moment, saying it was simply the kind of energy March Madness produces.
That shot did more than tie the score. It broke the rhythm Santa Clara had spent the evening building. The Broncos had played with nerve and sharp execution, especially from outside, and for long stretches they looked comfortable dragging Kentucky into an uncomfortable kind of game. When overtime began, though, the emotional balance had shifted.
Santa Clara pushed Kentucky to the edge
This was not a case of a heavyweight sleepwalking for 30 minutes and then waking up in time. Santa Clara played well enough to win. The Broncos spread the floor, trusted their shooting and repeatedly exposed just how thin the margin can be in a 7-versus-10 matchup.
Elijah Mahi led the way with 20 points, while Graves gave Santa Clara the late moment that nearly sent the Broncos into the second round. Their shot-making kept Kentucky from ever settling fully into its preferred flow. Santa Clara’s confidence from deep also prevented the Wildcats from turning their physical edge into complete control.
That tension made the comeback feel so significant. Kentucky did not overpower Santa Clara with ease. It survived a polished, dangerous opponent that had already shown it belonged on this stage.
For readers following the wider tournament picture, the official NCAA March Madness coverage offers the broader bracket context, but this game supplied enough drama to stand on its own.
Oweh’s night may reshape Kentucky’s path
There are games in March that change a bracket, and there are games that change the temperature around a team. This felt like the second kind. Kentucky did not just get through; it discovered that it has a player capable of bending an elimination game back in its favour when the season is slipping away.
Oweh’s stat line was exceptional, but his influence went beyond numbers. He played with urgency, created offense when possessions tightened, and delivered the one shot the Wildcats absolutely had to have. Kentucky will move on, but this result also serves as a warning. A team with ambitions beyond the opening weekend cannot keep living that close to the edge.
Even so, tournament runs are not always built from polished wins. Sometimes they begin in panic, noise and one impossible-looking shot that refuses to stay out. Kentucky now has one of those moments.
Santa Clara leaves with disappointment, but not without respect. The Broncos stretched Kentucky all the way into overtime and came within a possession of producing one of the bracket’s most memorable upsets. For long portions of the afternoon, they were the sharper team. They just happened to run into a finish that belonged to Oweh.
And that is the enduring image from this game: Kentucky on the brink, Santa Clara ready to celebrate, and Otega Oweh pulling up with the season hanging in the air before the ball kissed the backboard and dropped through. March does not often bother with subtlety when it can offer something far better.
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