Oumar Ballo

Oumar Ballo is a 7-foot 260-pound big man originally from Mali. He began his college career at Gonzaga, playing sparingly as a freshman, before following Tommy Lloyd to Arizona three years ago. He’s been a two-year starter for the Wildcats and averaged a double-double this year with 12.9 points and 10.1 rebounds. He finished his career at Arizona with the highest all-time field goal percentage in program history and also ranked in the top ten in double-doubles, blocks, and rebounds.

Ballo is a monster in the paint, in the best way possible. He has a huge frame that is as powerful as it is large, and he knows how to use it. Ballo excels at getting deep post position. He’s extremely physical prior to the catch, both by ducking in hard to seal defenders under the rim and pushing them up the lane when he’s fronted. If they play behind him in the post, he looks to bully them with his dribble to get to point blank range. While Ballo lacks an overly refined post-game when he isn’t able to get deep real estate, he does possess good hands and solid footwork. He’s an emphatic dunker who virtually rips the rim down at every opportunity. He also puts a ton of pressure on the rim rolling off ball-screens, virtually running to the rim to create maximum separation from the ball-handler.

Ballo is also a major physical presence on the defensive end of the floor. He can bang in the post, rotate to provide a capable shot-blocking presence (4.9% block rate), and also has a high steal rate for an interior-based big man. Where he gets more limited is when he is pulled away from the basket, on both ends of the floor. Offensively, he attempted 88% of his shots at the rim, converted less than 50% of his free-throws (leading several teams to deliberately send him to the free-throw line), and hasn’t attempted a three-pointer in four years of college basketball. Defensively, he’s also limited when pulled away from the basket and also not able to defend the pick-and-roll with anything but a deep drop coverage.