Dawning of Oden age at OSU

The wait was worth it for No. 3 Ohio State and prized big man Greg Oden.

In his first competition in seven months, the 7-foot freshman, touted by some as the best U.S.-born big man in a generation, had 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Buckeyes past Valparaiso 78-58 on Saturday.

Oden had not played summer ball or with the Buckeyes since undergoing surgery June 16 to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist.

Daequan Cook scored 20 points and Ron Lewis had 10 for Ohio State (7-1).

Samuel Haanpaa had 16 points, Brandon McPherson 11 and Urule Igbavboa 10 for the Crusaders (3-4).

Oden scored his first point at 12:56 of the opening half with a left-handed free throw. He wore an elastic brace on his right wrist and hand. He hit just 8 of 15 free throws and was 3 for 4 from the field. He also had five blocked shots in 23 minutes.

DePaul 64, (5) Kansas 57: At Rosemont, Ill., Sammy Mejia hit game-tying and go-ahead 3-pointers in the final three minutes and the Blue Demons (3-4) rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to stun the Jayhawks (6-2).

Mejia finished with 23 points for DePaul.

Mario Chalmers had 15 for Kansas.

(6) Alabama 77, Tennessee State 60: At Tuscaloosa, Ala., Jermareo Davidson had 22 points to vault the Crimson Tide (7-0) over the Tigers (2-3).

Ronald Steele finished with 12 points and five assists for Alabama.

Clarence Matthews led Tennessee State with 17 points.

(7) North Carolina 75, Kentucky 63: At Chapel Hill, N.C., Wayne Ellington had 17 points and fellow freshman Brandan Wright added 16 to lead the Tar Heels (7-1) to a victory over the Wildcats (4-3).

Reyshawn Terry also scored 16 points for UNC.

North Dakota State 64, (8) Marquette 60: At Milwaukee, Andre Smith scored 26 points to lead the Bison (5-2) to a victory over the Golden Eagles (8-1).

Jerel McNeal scored 16 points for the Golden Eagles.

(9) Texas A&M 74, Pacific 62: At College Station, Texas, Joseph Jones had 24 points and Antanas Kavaliauskas scored 23 to lead the Aggies (7-0) past the Tigers (3-4).

Anthony Brown had 19 points to lead Pacific.

(10) LSU 74, Tulane 67: At New Orleans, Glen Davis had 20 points and 13 rebounds and Garrett Temple added 18 points to help the Tigers (4-1) overcome a slow start in a win over the Green Wave (4-3).

David Gomez led Tulane with 19 points.

(11) Duke 61, (18) Georgetown 52: At Durham, N.C., Greg Paulus (13) and Jon Scheyer (9) scored all their points in the second half and the Blue Devils (7-1) beat the Hoyas (4-3) with stingy defense in the late going.

Josh McRoberts had 15 points for Duke.

Jessie Sapp had 13 points for the Hoyas.

(12) Wisconsin 79, Florida International 63: At Madison, Wis., Kammron Taylor scored 16 points as the Badgers (7-1) beat the Golden Panthers (3-5).

Johwen Villegas scored 24 points for the Golden Panthers, including seven 3-pointers.

Alando Tucker and Joe Krabbenhoft added 10 points each for the Badgers.

(14) Memphis 77, Manhattan 59: At Memphis, Tenn., Robert Dozier scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds as the Tigers (5-1) used defensive pressure and inside dominance for a victory over the Jaspers (2-5).

Chris Douglas-Roberts finished with 14 points for Memphis, while Willie Kemp, Jeremy Hunt and Joey Dorsey scored 10 points each.

(16) Arizona 84, Illinois 72: At Phoenix, Chase Budinger scored 22 points and the Wildcats (5-1) rallied from a 16-point deficit to defeat the Fighting Illini (7-2).

Warren Carter scored 24 points and Shaun Pruitt and Chester Frazier each added 11 for Illinois.

(17) Wichita State 64, (15) Syracuse 61: At Syracuse, N.Y., Kyle Wilson scored 17 points, Sean Ogirri added 16 and the Shockers survived a big Syracuse rally, holding off the Orange.

Terrance Roberts had 14 points for Syracuse.

(19) Butler 70, Cleveland St. 45: At Indianapolis, Mike Green scored 16 points, A.J. Graves added 14 and the Bulldogs (9-0) beat the Vikings (5-4) to protect their first Top 25 ranking in nearly five years.

J’Nathan Bullock and Kevin Francis had 11 points apiece for the Vikings.