When Zed Key suffered a shoulder sprain three minutes into last night’s game against Purdue, another post player needed to step up. Felix Okpara did just that and even more against the best big man in the country. Prior to Thursday night, the freshman averaged just 12 minutes per game in Ohio State’s first 13 games of the season and never played more than 20 minutes in a single night. Okpara was not only forced to play 30 minutes against the Boilermakers due to Key’s injury, but did so while going against Zach Edey, a 7-foot-4, 285-pounder “human cheat chode” – in the words of Chris Holtmann – who averaged 21.7 points (10th in Division I) and 13.4 rebounds (second) per game in Purdue’s first 14 games of the season. Okpara, who is 6-foot-11, was the lone Buckeye over 6-foot-7 who saw playing time after Key’s departure. That meant he spent…
Continue Reading: Felix Okpara Proved Against Purdue He Can Be A Legitimate Defensive Big Man For Ohio State
