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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Don’t call Daniel Ochefu a center. Don’t call him a “five.”
Just call him a basketball player, and he’s OK with that.
Ochefu, Villanova’s 6-foot-11 senior big guy, is enjoying an exceptional NCAA Tournament for the Wildcats after battling an assortment of injuries during the regular season.
In Villanova’s three NCAA Tournament games, he’s 17 for 25 from the field (68 percent) and averaging 15.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 blocks, and 1.7 steals.
So far in this year’s tourney, only Ochefu and Domantas Sabonis of Gonzaga have 40 points, 20 rebounds, five blocks and five assists.
“I take a lot of pride in not just being a traditional big guy,” Ochefu said Friday. “In being a complete basketball player. I take a lot of pride in my passing. We have great shooters, great cutters, so it’s easy to get guys in good position and get them the ball and they can just shoot it.
“I just take a lot of pride in being an all-around player, and I think us as a program take a lot of pride in just having basketball players, not just a five-man or a three-man or a point guard. Arch (Ryan Arcidiacono) comes in and guards the post guy sometimes, I guard the point guard … everyone is just great basketball players.”
Ochefu is one of only 12 players in NCAA Division I with 250 points, 250 rebounds, 50 assists, 50 blocks and 25 steals.
The versatility in Ochefu's game is a product of his early years at Westtown School outside West Chester, where he played basketball before graduating from Downingtown East.
“It’s actually been a secret and nobody’s ever talked about it and we used it, and nobody asked me so I never said anything,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “But his high school coach at Westtown High School, Seth Berger, used him as a perimeter player.
“He taught him how to pass and how to dribble, and he never played in the post. So he was the opposite of any other big guy that you ever get. We taught him how to play in the post, but it was so valuable to have a guy that could pass.”
At Villanova, Ochefu has gradually become a real force in the post while retaining his ability to pass out of the paint, defend on the perimeter and even bring the ball up the court when needed.
“We use him against the press, put the ball in his hands against the press, he throws back-door passes,” Wright said Friday. “He’s a great passer and he loves it. He doesn’t need to score, but he can and he likes it.
“He’s always enabled us to have five good ballhandlers and passers on the floor and still have a shot blocker at the rim. Most teams don’t have that.”
It speaks volumes that in the three NCAA Tournament games Villanova has won, over UNC Asheville, Iowa and Miami, Ochefu is actually third on the team with nine assists.
He’s also fifth among all players in this year’s tournament in rebounds and second in blocks.
And get this: The 6-foot-10 Ochefu has five steals in the tournament — 10th-most in the tourney. Kris Dunn had three in two games. Isaiah Whitehead had two in one game.
So Ochefu has the same number of steals as the two most celebrated guards in the Big East in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
“It makes him very dangerous,” Josh Hart said. “To be able to have a 5 — I wouldn’t even all him a 5. To be able to have a basketball player at his height who’s able to make the right play? A lot of times, especially here, it’s easy to get frustrated, so it’s easy for a big to be frustrated. Because a lot of times the guards have the ball in their hands a lot and it’s easy for a big to get frustrated.
“But he never gets frustrated. He’s always focused on this team, focused on making the right play. He’s never focused on individual stats. It’s not like if he hasn’t got the ball in three or four possessions, it’s, ‘OK, I have to get a shot.’ He doesn’t get the ball in three or four possessions, he just thinks, ‘I need to make the right play.’
“To have someone like that, who can pass out of the post, he can score out of the post, who can defend, who can get out on the perimeter and defend guards. It just gives us an extra element offensively and defensively.”
Ochefu and Arcidiacono, Villanova’s two seniors in Wright’s rotation, will play for a berth in the Final Four on Saturday when the No. 2 seed Wildcats face No. 1 seed Kansas in the South Region championship game at 8:49 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center (see breakdown).
Villanova is 114-27 since Ochefu arrived on campus, and ‘Nova’s .809 winning percentage during these four years is fifth-best in Division 1, behind only Stephen F. Austin (.859), Gonzaga (.855), Wichita State (.834) and Arizona (.821).
“This is what I expected,” said Ochefu, a native of Nigeria. “Coming to Villanova, I wasn’t expecting us to be a mediocre team. I expected us to compete for a Final Four berth every year, and this year we’re finally here, and it feels like something we expected.
“I try not to think about it being my last go-around just because it’s distracting, so this last couple months have just been thinking about playing Villanova basketball, helping our teammates, and I think myself and Ryan have done a good job not focusing on this being our last year.”
The winner Saturday night advances to the Final Four in Houston and will face the winner of Sunday’s Notre Dame-North Carolina game next Saturday in the national semifinals at NRG Stadium (former Reliant Stadium).
“He’s basically went through four years at Villanova and at this point, he’s basically a graduate,” Hart said. “He’s basically an old-head. He’s definitely playing his best basketball now.”