Could Oweh's shot be Mark Pope's Austin MacGinnis kick moment?

The last few years notwithstanding, Mark Stoops had a tremendous run as the head football coach of the University of Kentucky. But, prior to the 10-win seasons and bowl streaks, before Lynn Bowden and Chris Rodriguez terrorized the field, Mark Stoops’ job was in serious jeopardy just four years into his eventual 13-year tenure. In 2016, it took the mighty leg of kicker Austin MacGinnis to save Stoops from termination and change the entire trajectory of the Kentucky football program. Could Otega Oweh‘s miraculous shot against Santa Clara do the same for Mark Pope and the basketball program?

In 2016, Kentucky football entered its game against Mississippi State on rocky ground. The team lost its season opener to Southern Miss, and patience was running thin for Stoops, who had yet to get Kentucky to a bowl game. If the team were to lose to Mississippi State at home, it would most likely mean the end of the Stoops era.

Enter Austin MacGinnis. With the Wildcats down by a point with three seconds remaining, MacGinnis lined up a 51-yarder. With ice in his veins, he split the uprights, completely turning around Kentucky’s season and flipping the script for Mark Stoops in general. Kentucky went on to a 7-5 record, its first bowl game since 2010, and the peak years of the Mark Stoops era.

Is Otega Oweh’s shot the basketball version of Austin MacGinnis’s kick?

10 years later, Mark Pope finds himself in a similar position to Mark Stoops. In just his second year, the groans from fans around a subpar regular season grew louder throughout the year. A first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament at the hands of a double-digit seed most famous for producing Steve Nash 30 years ago would have been the exclamation point on an objectively disappointing season.

Enter Otega Oweh. Just when all hope was lost, Oweh hit a shot that fans will be talking about for generations, sending the game to overtime and completely shifting the vibes of Kentucky basketball postseason hopes. The question is, will Oweh’s 32-foot heave also flip the script on the Mark Pope era the way Austin MacGinnis’s 51-yard kick did for the Mark Stoops era?

A win over 2-seed Iowa State would certainly help answer that question in the affirmative. Momentum is a real thing in the world of sports, and with Kentucky highlighting the definitive March Madness moment of the opening weekend, momentum is firmly on their side.

Whether Oweh’s shot went in or not, Mark Pope was going to get a third year. Injuries, the goodwill he earned in his first season, and overall likability were going to keep him at Kentucky’s head coach no matter what. But a loss to Santa Clara would have been a brutal stain on his resume. Now, with the boost from Otega Oweh’s one shining moment, Pope and the ‘Cats have a chance to ride this wave of madness into the Sweet 16 and beyond, possibly altering the entire trajectory of the Mark Pope era.

Austin MacGinnis would approve.