NORMAN — Oklahoma remained within striking distance for the entire game. The Sooners even held a four-point lead with eight minutes to go.

But it was a familiar face that kept the Sooners from extending their lead.

Kentucky guard Otega Oweh, who spent the last two seasons with the Sooners, was the Wildcats' entire offense down the stretch. Oweh continued to put his head down and drive to the rim for basket after basket.

But the most important basket, and the nail in the coffin for the Sooners, came on the final possession.

With the Sooners clinging to a one-point lead, the Wildcats got the ball to Oweh with the clock ticking. The former OU guard forced his way to the rim and hit an off-balanced jumper with six seconds to go, giving the Wildcats a one-point lead.

OU guard Jeremiah Fears drove down the floor and attempted a potential game-winning runner and missed. That sealed the Sooners' 83-82 loss to No. 17 Kentucky on Wednesday night.

From the 8:38-minute mark until the final whistle, Oweh scored the final 18 points of the game for the Wildcats. Oweh finished with a game-high (and career-high) 28 points on 12-of-21 shooting.

"Otega, hats off to him," OU coach Porter Moser said. "He had a phenomenal game, made some really tough shots. Couldn't get a stop down the stretch."

Oweh's efforts offset a fantastic outing from his former teammate Jalon Moore, who scored 20 points and made two clutch free throws to give the Sooners a one-point lead with 20 seconds to go. Fears finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

While Oweh was fantastic late in the second half, he struggled mightily in the first half. Oweh — who leads Kentucky in scoring with 15 points per game — had just five points on 2-of-7 shooting going into halftime. That allowed the Sooners to hang around, and a layup by Fears cut Kentucky's lead to two points going into the second half.

The Sooners exploded offensively in the second half, scoring 41 points on 57% shooting from the field and 53.8% from the 3-point line. Brycen Goodine hit three 3-pointers after halftime, including one that gave the Sooners a four-point lead with 18 minutes to go.

But Oweh proved too much for the Sooners to overcome.

The Sooners fall to 17-11 on the season and 4-11 in conference play.

— Oweh wasn't the only familiar face for the Sooners.

Former Oklahoma State big man Brandon Garrison finished with 12 points, two blocks and three steals in 23 minutes. Garrison, who the Sooners recruited heavily last offseason, was an issue on both ends of the floor.

— Oweh and Garrison were the only Wildcats in double figures.

— The Lloyd Noble Center crowd was rowdy for the entire game, particularly for Oweh. The fans booed Oweh every time he touched the ball.

Oweh heard the boos.

"It’s a great feeling just coming into your old space and getting a win," Oweh said. "Yeah, I definitely heard the boos. As a basketball player, it was just cool having that, being a basketball player and getting that type of intensity and coming out on top was a great feeling.”

— After the game was over, tensions appeared to boil between both teams and they had to be separated. Moore and Garrison appeared to be in the center of it.

"It's two teams going at it," Moser said. "I think it's two teams, competitive, going at it. Thought it was a high-level game, and you've got two teams in February wanting (to win). So it was they were playing both hard and that was part of it."

— The Sooners shot better than the Wildcats from both the field (53% to 50%) and the 3-point line (40% to 30%). But the Wildcats held a big advantage at the free throw line, making 18-of-24 attempts. The Sooners made 12-of-17 and attempted just five free throws in the second half.

— The Sooners also lost the points-off-turnovers battle (16-10) and the second-chance points battle (9 to 5). Ironically, the Sooners won the rebounding battle 34 to 31.

— The Sooners had a timeout on the final possession and decided not to use it. Moser on the final play: "It was a call. We work on it. (Fears) had the ball. He got right to the rim and then you guys can look at the clip. I just looked at it. There were so many calls at the rim down there and down here, and Jeremiah got to the rim right there.

"Wanted the ball in his hands, for sure... You always feel bad. Could you call timeout? Then if they deny him the ball, they double him and you really want him with the ball in his hands. I trust it. We work on that in practice. The attack and he makes so many things happen on that attacks before the defense gets set. That one didn't go our way. But there were a lot of plays in a one-possession game."

— Final word from Moser: "I can't say enough about our guys' efforts. How tough they were. How they battled back. Played the right way. Just competed and believed.

"I'm hurting for them that they fell one play short in this game. But we've gotta channel it and go right back Saturday and channel it towards Ole Miss."

— Up next: The Sooners head to Ole Miss for a 1 p.m. tipoff on Saturday (SEC Network).

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