Coming into this year, there were plenty of question marks about how the Queen’s Men’s Basketball team would perform.
The offseason wasn’t kind to them, with many key players like Cole Syllas, Sci ’24, Michael Kelvin II, ArtSci ’25, Cam Bett, ArtSci ’24, and Fofo Adetogun, MA ’24 leaving to other schools, or graduating.
On the other hand, the coaching staff produced one of the strongest recruiting classes in recent memory, filling six roster spots with first-year players. Of the six, Ollie Engen, Kin ’28, is projected to have the greatest impact, being ranked the fourth-best recruit in Ontario for the 2028 class by 247Sports.
A key question needed to be answered about who could step into the shoes of all-time Gaels greats such Cole Syllas. Midway through the season, with a 9-1 record, Head Coach, Stephen Barrie, seems to have found his answer through the hometown hero Ollie Engen.
Averaging 20 points a game, Engen leads the OUA in scoring, shooting an efficient 51.0 percent from the field. He’s also averaging 3.5 assists and 4.6 rebounds on the year.
Engen, the son of a basketball player, has played the sport since a young age.
“My dad played basketball growing up, so that was how I got introduced to it, and it was always kind of just the sport that I liked the most, so stuck with it,” Engen said in an interview with The Journal.
Focusing on basketball was crucial for Engen’s continued development at Orangeville Prep, a school that has produced many National Basketball Association (NBA) players including star Canadian point guard for the Denver Nuggets, and NBA champion, Jamal Murray.
“My experience in Orangeville was really good, they were really good at making the university transition a lot easier . It allowed me to learn from new people and be able to play against the best,” Engen added.
Playing for a competitive program connected him with many players who have committed to various National Collegiate Athletics Association Division 1 programs across the United States. However, Engen, who hails from Kingston, felt a pull towards his hometown team.
“I was in Kingston a lot and around Steph a lot, and got to see the team a lot, and it just felt like the best fit and made the most sense in of school basketball and just the place that I wanted to be the most,” he said.
“The culture that Queen’s had for the last however many years is very ive, very competitive, very, together. And it was the place that I had felt that the most of anywhere.”
Despite his personal success, Engen continues to see himself as a part of the larger team, focusing on team success more than personal accolades.
“We see ourselves as a as a top team, a team that can compete, and a team that’s striving to win. […] If things like Rookie of the Year happen and stuff like that, that’s good, but I’m more so just out there, just trying to get better, and just be out there with the guys,” Engen emphasized.
As Engen is, after all, just a rookie, with his talent, he’ll only continue to get better, and just like as a child, basketball seems to be the plan for Ollie Engen.
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