Kentucky Santa Clara otega oweh buzzer beater

This Is March: Otega Oweh hits a half court prayer to save Kentucky from Santa Clara

Drew Smith
March 21, 2026
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The madness started immediately on Friday morning and it delivered in the first game of the day. Kentucky was four tenths of a second away from one of the more embarrassing first-round exits in recent tournament history.

Santa Clara freshman Allen Graves hit what appeared to be three-point DAGGER with 2.4 seconds left to put the Broncos up by one. The Wildcats looked dead and the arena erupted. Santa Clara’s bench cleared. The upset was happening.

Then Otega Oweh grabbed the inbound, raced up the sideline, and launched a prayer from near halfcourt that banked off the glass and through the net as the buzzer sounded. The building lost its mind. Kentucky was still alive.

Otega Oweh saves Kentucky, sends game to OT

NO. WAY. 😱

WE'RE GOING TO OVERTIME!!! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/3n8rDxkY3h
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 20, 2026

Kentucky went on to win 89-84 in overtime and Oweh finished with 35 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists in one of the better individual performances of the first round. He tied the game twice in the final ten seconds of regulation. First on a layup that made it 70-70. Then on the halfcourt heave that nobody who watched it will forget.

Santa Clara was genuinely remarkable throughout. The Broncos made their first tournament appearance since 1996 when Steve Nash was running the point. Graves nearly sent them to the second round by himself, scoring his team’s final 11 points in regulation including the three that looked like the game winner.

Elijah Mahi added 20 points. This was not a team that showed up to be a feel-good story. They played Kentucky to the wire and had the game won.

There is a small bit of controversy worth noting.

After Graves hit the go-ahead three, Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek attempted to call a timeout that was never acknowledged in the chaos of the moment. Whether that changes anything is unknowable at this point. The game went to overtime and Kentucky won it. That is the result.

Kentucky faces second-seeded Iowa State in the second round. Iowa State beat Tennessee State 108-74. The Wildcats will need a lot more from Oweh to make any noise from here.

March is here. It is already delivering.