After the 2010 season, with only two years of eligibility left, Charles Odum wanted to make his time with the Vikings count. When recruited out of the College of Southern Idaho, while he was drawing attention from schools like Oklahoma and Kent State, he did not want to spend his last years sitting on the bench, letting a chance slip by.
“I wanted to feel needed,” Odum said.
Now the Portland State senior’s value to his team is more than he could have asked for. Odum is currently the second-leading scorer in the Big Sky conference and has his team poised for a run in the Big Sky tournament.
Head coach Tyler Geving values what Odum brings to the court night-in and night-out.
“Chuck’s a really aggressive player going to the rim and developed a three-point shot,” Geving said. “He’s very versatile.”
Odum feels that it’s not just the offense though that makes him and his teammates click.
“The way we’ve been successful is getting energy off our defense,” Odum said.
Odum feeds off the energy generated by teammates and the fans. “When you steal the ball, there’s energy from the crowd, then on the fast break, you feel the energy and the crowd explodes at the finish,” Odum said. “It’s that explosion from the crowd that really gets us going.”
Odum has recently consulted former coaches and even former Viking and NBA guard Ime Udoka regarding his development as a shooter, as well as the pressure of playing the game.
“I’ve been talking to some coaches back home and I’ve been talking to [Udoka] a lot as well,” Odum said. “He says just to keep working out and eventually it will pay off.”
At Mayfair High School in California, Odum was a four-time letterman in basketball, leading his team to league championships in 2005 and 2008. As a senior, he was named league Most Valuable Player and second team All-California Interscholastic Federation. He averaged 23.7 points, 7 rebounds, 4.7 steals and 4.7 assists per game.
Now a college senior, Odum has realized every game is important. And when friend and teammate Martin Whitmore went down for the season earlier this year with an elbow injury, Odum was more aware of that fact than before.
“My boy Martin [Whitmore] got hurt earlier this year and it really let me know that any game can be your last game,” Odum said. “You want to play hard every game that you can play.”
You can see Odum and the Vikings play Thursday night at the Stott Center as they take on Montana State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.