Bio

Perhaps no Tennessee Tech men’s basketball student-athlete excelled at a higher rate in the classroom than Dennis Ogbe did from 2010-14, but his impressive display of work ethic and skill was evident on the hardwood as well. You don’t become the all-time career leader in field goal percentage for a more-than 100-year-old program without consistency and talent, but Ogbe’s ability to balance that across campus is what truly made the 6-foot-7 forward so special.

Firing at a 61.2 percent clip from the floor over four seasons, Ogbe could only reach the required threshold to qualify for the mark by being on the floor. And the Munich, Germany native was constantly in the mix for the Purple and Gold, playing 123 career games to rank in a tie for fourth in school history.

More of a sixth-man and role player as a freshman and sophomore, Ogbe broke out in his junior campaign, averaging 10.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting at a 61.3 percent clip, the seventh most efficient scoring season in Tech history. He followed it up as a senior captain in 2013-14 by averaging 10.6 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game, all while shooting 61.0 percent from the floor for the eighth-best mark by a Golden Eagle.

During his career, he hauled in the ninth-most offensive rebounds, securing 204 off the glass on the offensive end of the floor. He was also named Team MVP following his senior campaign. His prowess on the floor earned him a selection to Tech’s All-Century Team as part of the program’s 100^th Anniversary Celebration prior to the 2022-23 campaign.

Off the court, Ogbe became one of the most academically decorated men’s basketball student-athletes in program history, cementing his legacy as the school’s only Academic All-American with a second-team honor from CoSIDA in 2013-14 as a senior. He was twice named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District IV squad and became the only OVC Scholar-Athlete Award winner in Tech men’s basketball history in 2013-14.

The OVC Scholar-Athlete Award is the highest individual honor that can be earned by OVC student-athletes and it is given annually to three men and three women of junior or senior status who have accomplishments in both the classroom and athletic arena, as well as leadership qualities. Ogbe was an eight-time member of the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, a four-time member of the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll, and a two-time OVC Medal of Honor recipient as well.

Ogbe earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Tech in 2014, before embarking on a more-than-six-year journey toward earning his PhD in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 2020. Since early 2021, Ogbe has been employed as a signal analysis engineer in Pasadena, Calif. for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.