Season In Review: Norse Odiase Did The Dirty Work For Texas Tech

Texas Tech center Norense Odiase returned to the court in 2017-18 after missing the previous season due to injury. Let’s take a look at how his season played out.

Every successful basketball team needs quality role players. While the stars grab the headlines, these so-called “glue guys” sacrifice notoriety and glory to do things on the court that many people overlook. Such was the case for Texas Tech forward Norense Odiase in 2017-18.

After sitting out the 2016-17 season due to a foot injury, the Ft. Worth native returned to the floor to play a key role for the Red Raiders. Odiase’s gritty and physical style of play was a perfect fit for the mentality Chris Beard wanted to instill in his team, even if Odiase’s skill set didn’t seem to mesh with Tech’s motion offense.

Odiase started Texas Tech’s final 30 games after coming off the bench to open the season. Along the way, he averaged 3.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 0.4 blocks per game.

He had two games with double-digit points including a season high 14 at home against Oklahoma. It was also in that contest that he registered a season high three blocks. Against Seaton Hall in November, Odiase pulled down 12 rebounds, one of two games in which he had at least 11 boards.

But Odiase’s biggest contribution to the team couldn’t be measured by statistics. The 6-foot-9, 245-pounder was the Red Raiders’ most physical presence in the post. He used his strength and wide frame to keep taller players like Texas’ Mo Bamba, Purdue’s Matt Haarms or Seaton Hall’s Angel Delgado from setting up shop directly in front of the rim.

Odiase was also a leader by example often throwing his big body after lose balls and making hustle plays that inspired his teammates. Though fans may not have always noticed what Odiase brought to the floor, his physicality and hard-nosed play set the tone for the Red Raiders, one of the main reasons he moved into the starting lineup early in the season.

However, Odiase did have his limitations this year, especially on offense. Aside from the 2016-17 season in which he appeared in only three games, this season was the lowest-scoring of his career.

As a freshman, Odiase scored 7.0 points per game and the next season he increased that to 8.5. But those seasons were under former head coach Tubby Smith who ran a different and more conventional offense than Chris Beard’s motion offense.

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In Smith’s offense, Texas Tech tried to milk possessions and shorten the game by holding the ball until the shot clock was running down before starting the offense. In that system, Odiase and the other big men were asked to do little more than stand in the post or set the occasional ball screen. Any offense asked of him under Smith was done on the block where he could use his big frame to get post position with is back to the basket.

In Beard’s motion offense, Odiase was asked to handle the ball and make passes away from the basket as each player on the court was expected to be somewhat interchangeable. The motion offense is better suited to big men like Tommy Hamilton who can shoot from the outside or Zach Smith who are comfortable handling the ball in space. Neither skill set is a strength of Odiase.

As a result, Odiase was often a liability on that end of the floor. Despite playing his fewest minutes per game of his career (14.8) he committed virtually the same amount of turnovers as he did in his first two seasons. Odiase’s 1.2 turnovers per game were only slightly below the 1.65 he averaged as a freshman and sophomore when he played an average of 20.1 minutes per game.

It looked all season like he was struggling to fit into Beard’s motion offense and that was reflected in his hesitancy with the ball. Odiase took only 2.6 shots per game this year. That total is lower than his career high of 7.0 in 2015-16. Even as a freshman, Odiase put up 5.2 shots per game, over two-and-a-half more than he did this season.

The fit (or lack there of) in Beard’s offense has left some to wonder if Odiase may transfer this offseason. The addition of grad transfer Tariq Owens, a 6-foot-11 center from St. Johns means Odiase could lose his starting spot on the team next season limiting his minutes even more and causing him to possibly look for a better fit.

Odiase struggles against smaller outside shooting teams like Florida, Villanova or Stephen F. Austin (three of the teams Tech faced in the NCAA Tournament). He is not quick enough to guard multiple positions which renders him a liability against teams with versatile forwards, which is the trend in college basketball. Often, Beard chose to close games with a smaller lineup featuring Zach Smith as the only post player on the court rendering Odiase a spectator.

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Still, Odiase brings an intangible toughness and grit that will always have a place in the game. His willingness to get his hands dirty and sacrifice for his team make him a perfect embodiment of what a Texas Tech Red Raider is and helped him carve out an important role on this season’s team.

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