A Kentucky Wildcat has been named co-SEC Player of the Week

Mark Pope and Kentucky basketball picked up their second-straight win on Saturday by defeating Rick Pitino and St. John's in Atlanta at the CBS Sports Classic. All of the talk as of late has been Kentucky finally getting healthy, with Jaland Lowe and Mo Dioubate returning, as well as Jayden Quaintance finally making his debut, but one Wildcat had his best game of the season on Saturday.

Otega Oweh hasn't produced on the court like many thought he would heading into the season. The preseason All-SEC Player of the Year has struggled, and has not came through when the team has needed him the most. But, he looked to be back to his old self against St. John's in Atlanta. Oweh put up a game-high 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. It was his second 20-point outing of the season, and the performance resulted in Kentucky's first weekly SEC honor of the season.

With Lowe on the floor, he doesn't just help the offense as a whole run much better, but it allows Oweh to be more comfortable doing what he does, and that's attacking the rim with aggressiveness. The 6-5 guard is like the leader of this team. Whatever he does, the team follows. When Lowe isn't on the floor, it's hard for anyone to create offense, and Oweh lacks aggressiveness. But when he is on the floor, Oweh feeds off his creativity and he starts to take charge as a top option for Lowe when he's finding open teammates. On Saturday, Oweh's intensity was not only a huge part in their scoring ability, but it really affected the defense, too, as that aggressive mindset was there all game. Kentucky held St. John's to just 33 percent overall, 5-19 from three, and 11 of their 15 points off turnovers coming in the second half, which was when Lowe returned from injury.

This Kentucky team feeds off of each other, but it really starts with Otega Oweh, and it seems like he's starting to understand that more. Mark Pope talked about the massive impact he has on this team after their win over St. John's: "These guys follow his fight. When he’s physical, our team seems to be physical. When he’s cutting hard, they cut hard. When he’s talking, our team talks. It’s a big burden for him to carry, but he’s kinda working in that direction where he’s understanding and embracing it a little bit more. He’s a bellwether for our team."

Oweh will look to translate that big performance into their next game, as they'll need him to continue producing at a high level and really start to back up that preseason SEC Player of the Year hype.