Challenges have given Ognacevic patience and positivity as he anticipates fifth college season
Men’s basketball senior forward Jacob Ognacevic has faced what many would call a tough series of challenges.
A high school senior season cut short by COVID-19, health issues during a redshirt freshmen debut year at Lipscomb University and a junior year on the sidelines due to an injured knee have all attempted to get in his way.
But the 6’8″ forward hasn’t let any of those challenges stop him. In fact, Ognacevic’s skills have only improved.
“I’m just kind of using that [junior] year as a blessing because when it all happened and when I had the redshirt, I didn’t want to take a negative outlook on it,” Ognacevic said. “That wouldn’t have done any good, so I’m looking at it in a positive way. I think that’ll show this year because I feel a lot more comfortable running the offense, feel a lot more comfortable on defense, and even though I wasn’t playing, there were a lot of areas that I was able to improve in.”
During high school, Ognacevic played basketball at Sheboygan Lutheran in Wisconsin. While there, he dominated on the court, averaging 30.2 points a game his junior season. The next year, he became only the third player in the history of Wisconsin high school basketball to score over 1,000 points in a single season. Ognacevic finished his senior campaign with 1,024 points even with COVID-19 cutting the season short.
In January 2020, Ognacevic scored 54 points against Ozaukee to become the 38th player in Wisconsin’s high school basketball history to score over 2,000 career points. (With 2,501 career points, Ognacevic sits seventh among Wisconsin high school scorers.)
Then, as his team was well on its way toward a shot at another championship win, COVID-19 hit.
“My career’s definitely been unique, and there’s been a lot of struggles,” Ognacevic said. “[But] I think that this is God’s plan for my life, and I’m willing to follow that… I just stayed with it. And I have a lot of positive people in my life too, like my parents and then my trainer back home. They always pour a lot into me. They also kept me going through the hard times.
“Praying to God [helped] as well,” he said. “If this is His plan for me, then I’m going to follow it and perform here to the best of my ability. Give it up to Him and good things are gonna happen.”
Ognacevic started out his college basketball career at Valparaiso. While there, he led the team with a 54.5 field goal percentage and shooting 51.7 percent from the three-point range.
Then Ognacevic transferred sight-unseen to Lipscomb University for his redshirt freshman year. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Lipscomb Head Coach Lennie Acuff didn’t have an in-person chance to watch Ognacevic play and had to conduct all of their interviews over Zoom. But Ognacevic — at that time third in the country in three-pointer accuracy, according to ESPN — wound up at Lipscomb anyway.
During Ognacevic’s first game for Lipscomb, against Birmingham-Southern, he took to the floor for 30 minutes and brought home 30 points, seven rebounds and an assist. He played in 32 of the Bisons’ 33 games, breaking double digits in 14 of them and scoring at least 20 points in seven…even while battling health issues.
Building off his first year, Ognacevic had a stellar sophomore season at Lipscomb. Playing in all 33 games and starting 26 times, he led the team in points scored with 583, field goals made with 221, and free throws made with 115. (He finished third in the ASUN for all three of those categories.) He ranked 20th overall in the NCAA for his .607 field goal percentage. He broke double digits in 28 games, exceeding 20 points in 14 of them. His season high was 29 points in a February game against Stetson. He was named to the 2022-23 ASUN First Team All-Conference.
Everyone expected a big season from Ognacevic his junior year, but then he wound up sidelined due to injury. Yet instead of complaining or letting it get him down, he maintained a positive outlook on it.
“It was definitely a unique experience,” Ognacevic said. “I didn’t think I would be redshirting in my fourth year playing college basketball, but it happened, and I’m just excited to be back this year.
He said being redshirted made him a lot smarter.
I had a front-row seat to us playing the whole year, so I understand the offense a lot better, ” he said. “Defensive concepts I understand a lot better because I was just watching. I didn’t have to worry about playing at all.”
Ognacevic said he tried to have “an attitude of gratitude” regarding his injury.
“It could have been a lot worse,” he said. “And there’s people that have it a lot worse, too. Like, I had a bone bruise in my knee. That’s not the worst thing that can happen to you… it was just an opportunity for me to grow. And I don’t think it would have done any good to keep a negative mindset through all that.”
This season, despite not playing at all in 2023-2024, Ognacevic was a unanimous selection for preseason all-ASUN honors. He was selected alongside senior forward Will Pruitt, his teammate of four years.
While many of the team Ognacevic knew either graduated or transferred during his sidelined year — including last year’s leading scorer Derrin Boyd, who transferred to Charleston — he’s not worried about finding his place on this year’s team.
“That’s just kind of how college basketball is right now,” Ognacevic said. “No matter what school you’re at, how good you are, you’re going to have guys that leave, and you’re going to have guys that end up staying. I think I bonded with the new guys well, and we’ve had a summer together. We got the fall together. So we definitely have enough time to mesh together… We’ve got enough time to prep and get used to playing with each other.”
Ognacevic said he looked forward to seeing how the team’s chemistry off the court translated to on the court when they started playing.
“I think we got the best chemistry off the court that I’ve ever seen in my college career, for sure,” he said. “Everyone’s super connected together. Like, if we’re going out to eat, most of the guys are there and everyone’s really close with each other. Everyone’s friends.”
Ognacevic said that one of his key goals is to be someone his teammates can count on. He shoots 500 three-point shots and 100 free throws every day outside of regular team practice. He’s been doing this since he came to Lipscomb.
“Once I get on that gun, I can just fire off shots super quick,” Ognacevic said. “I try to keep that routine and stay consistent with it because I think that translates on the court as well. If you’re going to be consistent with your workouts, consistent with your life, you’re going to be consistent on the court, and that’s what I’m shooting for. Each game we play, I want my teammates [and] my coaches to know what they’re going to get out of me.”
Not wanting to be the type of player who can provide 20 points one game and five the next, Ognacevic said consistency is something that drives him.
“I just want to have them be able to count on me,” he said. “I’m a fifth-year guy at this point in my career… I’ve got to be able to play good every single game and perform every single game.”
But it’s not just consistency that Ognacevic trains for. One of the key factors that drives him is the desire to be “undeniable.”
“That’s something that my trainer told me: ‘You gotta be undeniable. Your game’s just gotta be that on point. You gotta be that good,'” Ognacevic said. “I think you’ve got to outwork everyone. For basketball, for example, no one’s a perfect player, right? So, there’s an area in your game where a coach can point to, like, ‘Hey, you’re not doing this well enough.’ But, if you’re undeniable, they can’t say anything.
“A lot of people that don’t play, they blame the coach, but I think they’ve got to look at themselves, like, ‘Are you really doing everything you can to make sure that you’re playing?’ A lot of it too is being honest with yourself. If you’re not good at defense, and you’re wondering why you aren’t playing, and you’re not being honest with yourself [that you] can’t play defense, can’t guard anyone, and you’re not taking steps to get better at that, you’re not going to become undeniable.”
It’s been more than 85 weeks since Ognacevic took to the court with his team in an official game, and he said he’s looking forward to playing again.
“It’s fun to practice, but it’s nothing like a game,” he said. “My last game was two years ago versus Kennesaw State. It’s been a while, and I’ve just been practicing, practicing, practicing for so long. I’m just super excited to play an actual game.”
That opportunity is less than a month away. The men’s basketball season starts for the Bisons on Nov. 4 against Duquesne. The Bisons’ first home game will be during Bisons Weekend on Nov. 9 against Wofford.
“Obviously [I] have goals, but the No. 1 thing in my head, I’m just excited to get back out there,” Ognacevic said with a grin.
