EAST LANSING, MICH. ? The snapshots Saturday were so different from the ones viewed just 25 days earlier. That evening in Wisconsin’s Kohl Center, Ohio State center Greg Oden appeared paralyzed by the clammy grip of languor. He performed passively, almost politely, in that game against the Badgers. He seemed content to be a spectator even as his Buckeyes fell.

But Michigan State’s Breslin Center, he was active, animated and intent on joining the melee at hand. This game was a throwback, a reminder of just what the Big Ten was like when every one of its games resembled a steel-cage match.

The Spartans favor that style, as they lack the talent to contend with Oden. In this game they tried to control him the old-fashioned way-muscling him, mauling him and, for long stretches, harassing him with 6-foot-10-inch redshirt junior Drew Naymick.

He is hardly as skilled as the Buckeyes’ 7-foot freshman, but he does have a bag of tricks and he used them all. He virtually laid on Oden’s back and extended his right leg, anchoring it solidly under Oden’s rear. He shoved Oden rudely and clung to Oden ardently. On one occasion, he went for a rebound with an arm around Oden’s waist and a hand clutching Oden’s jersey.

After the Buckeyes’ victory, we asked Oden about the treatment he had received and told him it seemed as if he were being governed by the rule once applied to Wilt Chamberlain. The one, we told him, where officials think, “You’re big enough to take care of yourself.”

“Yeah,” he said with a smile.

Do you feel like that sometimes, we asked.

“I feel like that a lot,” he said. “But, I just have to fight through it.”

How does he stay in control?

“My personality allows me to keep my cool,” he said. “If I lose it, it would worsen the chances of my team to win. I know I need to be out there.”

But aren’t there times he just wants to smack someone?

“Yeah, but it’s the bigger picture,” he said. “You have to think of the bigger picture.”

That is also an apt way to think of both Oden and the Buckeyes, who are pictures still coming into focus. But they are doing so, especially Oden, as revealed by his response to the mayhem unleashed on him.