Columbus - Ohio State coach Thad Matta wanted freshman center B.J. Mullens and the four other Buckeyes newcomers up on the high dive for their first game of the season, Thursday night's 70-42 victory over Delaware State.

"I don't want him to test the water. I just want him to jump in," Matta said. "Not only him, a lot of the guys.

"Don't stick your toe in, let's jump in and get ourselves completely wet and away we go. Young guys try to feel their way and this is such a young Basketball team, we've got to say, 'Here we go and we'll figure it out as we get in.' "

As Mullens, the nation's No. 1 men's college Basketball recruit, sat on the bench to start the game, sophomore Dallas Lauderdale hit the court with an energetic cannoNBAll.

A new man after dropping 13 pounds and gaining loads of confidence, the 6-8 sophomore from Solon made his first career start in the middle, and he was the one conjuring images of . . . well, he at least matched Greg Oden in the record books.

Lauderdale blocked seven shots, the most by a Buckeye since Oden two years ago, and scored seven points while making all three of his shots - a baseline two-hand dunk, a fast-break tomahawk dunk after he tipped a Delaware State 3-point shot, and an alley-oop dunk off an Evan Turner feed. He also shouted to the student section after consecutive blocks forced a Delaware State shot clock violation.

"It was just a pumped-up moment for me," Lauderdale said. "The defensive end, that's how I contribute to this team. Any way I can stop a team from scoring, that's what I'm going to do."

Pressing a tiring Hornet team that lost at Dayton on Wednesday night, the Buckeyes (1-0) limited Delaware State (1-4) to 33 percent shooting in the second half and forced 20 turnovers in the game while giving the ball up just seven times themselves.

Smooth-shooting freshman William Buford and junior David Lighty led Ohio State with 13 points each, while junior Jeremie Simmons, the junior college transfer who got the start at point guard, scored 10 points, making 3 of 6 3-pointers. Sophomore Jon Diebler also made 3 of 6 3s, scoring nine points.

"We looked good when we play Ohio State Basketball," Lighty said.

Mullens, who didn't play a single minute with Lauderdale in what should eventually be an intriguing big-man pairing, played 20 minutes off the bench, scoring seven points and grabbing three rebounds.