CFB Travel Guy

Purdue-Ft. Wayne vs. Ohio State

What’s the deal with the Big Ten and rivers running through campus?

In Iowa City, the Iowa River bisects the Iowa campus between the older, more traditional campus buildings and the medical and athletics facilities. At Michigan State, there’s also a stark contrast between the quad-laden, clustered main campus and the more spread-out academic departments and athletics facilities just across the Red Cedar River.

Ohio State’s campus structure is a mix of both, with the main quad (“The Oval”), medical center, and Ohio Stadium located east of the Olentangy River, but the remaining agricultural and athletics buildings located along its western bank.

I arrived at the Schottenstein Center — home of Ohio State basketball — about a half-hour before tip-off and parked in the Lane Avenue Garage, which happened to have a malfunctioning card reader and ended up being free. I walked across the Olentangy (via bridge, not miracle) and entered through the southeast entrance of the arena.

My immediate impression was that The Schott resembles NHL and NBA arenas more than a typical college facility. There’s a full ring of mid-level club suites encircling the seating bowl, with no bleacher seating and chair backs throughout. While this makes for a comfy viewing experience, the overall vibe brought about by this setup seemed to take away from the tenacity of the Nuthouse, the Buckeyes’ student section. Granted, this was an extremely low-stakes non-conference contest where you wouldn’t expect a wild student section anyway, but the distinctly pro-style atmosphere gave a strong impression that it would linger regardless of the opponent, even with a larger student turnout.

Since the Schottenstein Center is also used for Ohio State hockey games, lowest sections of seats for basketball have less elevation than most college gyms, with a few rows on one sideline and several behind each basket being located essentially at court level.

On the court, there was a stark talent contrast between Purdue-Ft. Wayne and their hosts. There was crispness to the way Ohio State spaced the floor and rotated on defense that PFW did not possess, and the Mastodons had no answers for Buckeye big Kaleb Wesson’s ability to rebound and battle inside, but also step out and hit perimeter jumpshots. This made for a mostly uneventful 39-point romp for the Buckeyes.

Although Ohio State rolled to an easy early-season win and the atmosphere clearly wasn’t comparable to a February Big Ten game during the heart of conference play, it was still a fun Friday night experience before the Buckeyes’ big football showdown with Penn State.

If you travel to Ohio State during November, it’s worth keeping an eye on the basketball slate and seeing if there’s an opportunity to double-dip. With very reasonably priced tickets available for early non-conference matchups, the experience is worth the cost of admission.