Finding a good center isn’t easy, but Vanderbilt doesn’t have to worry about that with two on the roster, both standing at 6-feet-11-inches in junior A.J. Ogilvy and redshirt sophomore Festus Ezeli.
Last year, Vanderbilt was considered a very young team. Specifically, in the frontcourt, Ogilvy started at center as a sophomore last year, along with much freshman support at the power forward position, and led the team with 15.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
This year, the Commodores are one year older and are looking for big development out of many of their players, especially Ezeli.
In hopes of developing a stronger on-court connection, both players spent the summers training in Australia along with the rest of the squad during a 10-day, five-game exhibition series. This gave them a great opportunity to develop on both sides of the ball, though defensively the tandem is seeing great progress.
“He helps my defense a lot because I am guarding him every day,” Ezeli said. “Playing defense against him makes me better.”
Ezili has done a lot of work in the offseason and preseason to fine-tune his game according to the experiences he had playing last year. Though Ezeli did not see a huge number of minutes in his freshman season, he certainly used that time productively in learning the game and adjusting to the high level of competition.
“Last year was like a trial and error year for me,” Ezeli said. “Just trying to get a feel for the game. Playing SEC was a big jump for me. Kind of like a shocker, but this year I know what to expect. Just coming in and worked on my game over the summer so I’m ready to go.”
On the other side of this inside combo is Ogilvy, who appears primed for a big year and was voted onto the First-Team Preseason All-SEC roster. Though quite an achievement, Ogilvy is not letting it affect his work ethic going into the season.
“At this point it is just people’s opinions,” Ogilvy said. “But that is something I am aiming to achieve this year, so I’ve just been working hard but not really worrying about that, I’ve just been worried about working hard.”
The work ethic of the tandem is certainly not being called into question as they have spent much time individually and with the team working on both sides of the ball.
Though it doesn’t seem overly likely the two will be on the court at the same time, having Ezeli able to provide a spark off the bench should be invaluable for the Commodores. This should be especially important in terms of keeping Ogilvy in good health for the entire season as he has had injury concerns in the past, including having to deal with a concussion suffered during an October practice.
Ezeli actually started in the exhibition victory on Nov. 10 against Alabama-Huntsville, and Ogilvy spelled him. Both scored eight points, with Ezeli notching a team-high four blocks. Ogilvy will be the starter once fully healthy, but Ezeli’s ability to produce was encouraging.
“Having Festus come off the bench and play as well as he has been playing in practice will really help out a lot,” Ogilvy said. “Especially towards the end of the season where everyone wears down a little bit. I’ll be fresher towards the end of the season, and hopefully Festus will be as fresh then too.”
