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Nothing But Nylon was in person on Wednesday night, and has some great observations:

The Buckeyes sloshed their way through an ugly first half, and in my opinion it was largely due to Oden being a complete non-factor on both ends. He had seven first half points that came on a dunk, a nice face up 10-footer and three left handed free throws. The aspect of Oden’s game that seems to be lacking most at this stage is his assertiveness in demanding the basketball from his teammates. Since I don’t follow Ohio State closely, for all I know this is by head coach Thad Motta’s design. For my money, if I’m playing Northwestern, a team that features absolutely no one close in size or talent to my dominant big man, my game plan is to work it inside and establish the paint early and often. But what do I know?



One thing that stood out clearly in the first half, and really for the whole game, was Northwestern’s fear of bringing the ball anywhere near Oden when they had the ball on offense. The Wildcats did a good job of making their 3-pointers early, which forced Ohio State out of a zone and into a man-to-man defense. Because Northwestern has big men who can shoot (don’t ask me their names, I don’t know), Oden was forced to wander out to the three-point line and he struggled defending the long-range shot. That being said, as soon as Northwestern went cold from the outside, they had no options offensively since they were determined to stay away from Oden rejecting their shots inside. He only had one block in the basketball game, but his presence on the defensive end of the floor was obvious from the opening tip. He was also a monster on the glass in the first half, pulling down seven rebounds with ease.



In the second half, in the midst of surprisingly close game, Oden did what I was waiting for him to do. He completely took over the basketball game.

The full article includes a great, and believable, point about how much more effective he could be with a point guard and/or coaching staff who was more adventerous about getting him the ball.



And, I really admire him for shooting free throws with the off hand while he recuperates from his wrist injury. 5-10 in a big game isn't great, but it's not bad for a righty shooting lefty (and (BRACE YOURSELF FOR A CHEAP SHOT) it's better than Ben Wallace shooting with either hand).