Transfer Jacob Ognacevic Signs, Makes It Official With UW

Jacob Ognacevic, fresh from an NCAA Tournament appearance that eluded the University of Washington once more, has signed with the Huskies in the hope he can help return them to postseason play.

Ognacevic is a 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward from Lipscomb and the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year who basically replaces the departed Tyler Harris on the roster, only giving them something different in approach.

Whereas the 6-foot-8, 190-pound Harris was more of a finesse player who averaged 11.8 points per game, Ognacevic, with his 30 extra pounds, is a 20-point scorer who prefers more of a physical style of basketball.

He scored in double figures in 33 of 35 games, with 19 20-point games and five more where he had 30 or more.

Ognacevic also played a season with a heavy mask to protect presumably a broken nose and missed the entire 2023-24 season with a knee injury. So he's not afraid to mix it up.

Jacob Ognacevic (41) wears a protective mask against Louisville in 2022. | Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

“He is a player who can score the ball in multiple ways," UW coach Danny Sprinkle said in a prepared statement. "His 6-8 frame with the ability to stretch the floor will help us tremendously. He is coming from a great program in Lipscomb, where he has been a part of a winning culture, has been coached hard and developed a strong work ethic, which is why his game has improved so much in his time there.”

A Wisconsin native, Ognacevic began his college career at Valparaiso in Indiana, where he averaged 6.3 points and 2 rebounds a game.

Moving to Lipscomb in Nashville, Tennessee, he improved from an 11.2 scorer to 17.9 to this past season's even 20 ppg, the latter ranking him 19th nationally.

If Ognacevic can make a productive jump to Big Ten basketball, Sprinkle will go a long way in solving his team's past season shortcoming of not being tough enough to close out games and win.

While Harris is a promising player who reportedly is headed to North Carolina State and the ACC, his replacement is no slouch either.

Ognacevic can tell his new Husky teammates what it was like to play in the NCAA Tournament, even though Iowa State showed Lipscomb the door with an 82-55 defeat in the opening round. At least he got there.

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