ROSEMONT, Ill. – It’s probably best to define what the Ohio State men’s basketball team wants from its center position this season.
Looking at the Buckeyes, it’s clear that coach Jake Diebler has options down low. This year’s team features four players listed at 6 feet 10 or taller, three of whom are at least 240 pounds and are classified as juniors or older. Each brings something different to the post, and that doesn’t factor in two power forwards capable of sliding to center in small-ball lineups.
So regardless of whether third-year roster mainstay Ivan Njegovan, Kentucky transfer Andrija Jelavic or Baylor transfer Josh Ojianwuna is in the game, what is it that Diebler wants to see from the position?
“We need rebounding,” Diebler said. “We need defense,
and we need efficiency. Those are the three things that collectively we’re looking at. We’ve got to be able to utilize them most of the time close to the rim.”
In other words, it’s unlikely the Buckeyes will be looking to get much in the way of straight-up scoring production from their center position this season. Last year, with Christoph Tilly primarily manning the spot, Ohio State finished just below the national average for percentage of points scored by centers at 18.4%. The average nationally was 18.7%, and the Buckeyes ranked 192nd in point production from the position.
Tilly led or tied for the team scoring lead four times in 32 games. He finished fourth on the team in scoring at 11 points per game. Given the career scoring averages of Jelavic (5.5 points in 32 games), Ojianwuna (5.3 in 87 games) and Njegovan (2.2 in 51 games), it seems unlikely the Buckeyes will have a single game where their top scorer will be a center.
Even given that, it’s clear the Buckeyes will need more than they got from that group in their outdoor exhibition game against Cincinnati. Under a cloudless sky in Mason at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, those three combined to score 11 points, grab seven rebounds and commit 12 fouls.
“We had some guys who missed some layups (against Cincinnati) that they’re going to make every other time,” Diebler said. “Those guys have had a great couple weeks. Didn’t look like it (against Cincinnati), but we’re not really putting any stock in it.”
Each option presents a unique set of circumstances. Njegovan is one of only three players to have been part of all three years of Diebler’s tenure and has shown flashes of ability in limited minutes during his first two seasons as a traditional center. At 7-2, 260, he’s the tallest and second-heaviest player on the roster.
Jelavic figures to play at power forward and center after a year at Kentucky, where he was in and out of the lineup while averaging 15.6 minutes per game, and in the exhibition he played more center than he typically has during the preseason, Diebler said. Ojianwuna was averaging 7.4 points and 6.4 rebounds, all career-high numbers, through 23 games at Baylor in 2024-25 before suffering a season-ending knee injury that led to a medical redshirt last season.
Against Cincinnati, he looked particularly rusty, missing three point-blank shots at the rim. At least one of them came on a play on which Ojianwuna had full clearance to easily dunk the ball only to try and lay it in, but none of those were the numbers Diebler said he was looking at afterward.
“His conditioning held up good,” the coach said. “That’s a process we’ve been working on. Just having him out there and getting the minutes was really more important than some of the details for today. He’ll be a lot better moving forward.”
Jelavic, at 6-11, 240, is an option to move to the perimeter and play alongside either of the other bigs. His versatility was part of what attracted him to the Buckeyes in the transfer portal, but two other post players will be options at center. When Ohio State needs to be more nimble, Diebler plans to be able to use Lee Aaliya (6-9, 235) and will have Amare Bynum (6-8, 245) as an option at center as well.
There’s no doubt that Ohio State has more options with size than a season ago. The question is if the Buckeyes can get enough from their multiple options at the position to allow their guards and wings to excel. John Mobley Jr., Justin Pippen, five-star freshman Anthony Thompson and Bynum are all the odds-on favorites to be the team's leading scorers.
“Because of the weapons we have on the perimeter they’ve got to be good screeners,” Diebler said. “We use those guys to initiate actions. They’ve got to do that well.
“We don’t want Ivan to try to play like Lee or Lee to try to play like Andrija. We want them to play Ohio State basketball and within that find those things that fit their strengths.”
Ohio State men's basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social, on Instagram at @cdadamjardyor on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: What does Ohio State basketball need from its centers this season?
