Beavers hope to open conference play by harpooning Bruins, Trojans
Freshman Josiah Lake II has been a major contributor off the bench (courtesy OSU sports communications)
Oregon State opens Pac-12 play this week at home, facing UCLA on Thursday and Southern Cal on Saturday at Gill Coliseum. We’ll know soon if the Beavers are up to the task.
They come in with an 8-3 non-conference record — 8-0 at home. The three losses came at neutral sites on a trip in November — 84-63 against Nebraska in Sioux Falls, S.D., then 88-72 to Baylor and 76-51 to Pittsburgh in NIT season tip-off action at Brooklyn, N.Y.
The three opponents were formidable. Baylor is ranked 17th in the AP college poll and owns a No. 17 NET ranking among the nation’s 362 Division I teams. Pittsburgh is No. 39, Nebraska No. 57. Oregon State’s ranking is 196th, reflective of a roster that carries two seniors, one junior, seven sophomores and five freshmen.
“I feel good about our season so far,” says Wayne Tinkle, in his 10th season at the OSU helm. “But we are young. We are still building this thing. The three-game road trip was scheduled for a reason — to develop some toughness and see where we were at early.
“We didn’t perform like we wanted to. But now as we shift gears to conference play, we have some experience going against talented teams. They showed us what some of our weaknesses are and the areas in which we need to improve.”
Two years ago, a season after reaching the Elite Eight for the first time since 1982, the Beavers stumbled to a record of 3-28 — worst in the program’s then 120-year history.
Last season showed improvement — 11-21 overall, 5-15 in conference play.
This season’s non-conference record was perfect if the Beavers’ performance was not. Three games were won in overtime, two of them (81-80 over Troy, 70-63 over Cal Poly) in two extra sessions. OSU beat Appalachian State 81-71 in overtime and also had narrow victories over Utah Valley (74-71) and Texas-San Antonio (66-65).
The competition at home has not been stiff. Appalachian State’s NET ranking is 78th. Utah Valley comes in at No. 183. The other teams vanquished by the Beavers rank behind them — Troy at 256, Idaho State at 261, Cal Davis at 265, Cal Poly at 290 and Texas-San Antonio at 312.
In Tinkle’s first season in Corvallis (2014-15), Oregon State won its first 14 home games and finished 15-2 at Gill. The team led by Gary Payton II went 9-0 against non-conference opponents at home, winning by margins no less than 10 points. Never, however, has the veteran coach had a team win as many close games as the Beavers have in a six-week span to start the 2023-24 season.
“It showed we were a little sloppy in some areas, but also had great resilience to pull out those games,” Tinkle says. “A couple of years, we probably would have lost a majority of them. We have a gritty group that has already gained some valuable experience.”
Oregon State’s opponents are averaging 69.1 points while shooting .401 from the field, and only .307 on 3-point attempts. “We like our defensive numbers,” Tinkle says.
The Beavers are averaging 1.4 more rebounds per contest than opponents, but they were outboarded 88-70 in the three losses. Now that 6-8 sophomore Michael Rataj has moved into the starting lineup, the Beavers are big, with either 6-10 K.C. Ibekwe or 7-2 Chol Marial at center and 6-9 Tyler Bilodeau at power forward.
“We have to improve in that area,” Tinkle says. “That’s going to be big for us. We have to be relentless on the boards.”
The Beavers are shooting .438 from the field and .756 from the free-throw line, both acceptable numbers.
They are shooting only .293 from 3-point range, however. Take away Jordan Pope’s 25 for 64 (.391) and the Beavers are a collective 36 for 144 (.250). They are averaging only 5.5 makes and 18 attempts per contest.
Sophomore guard Jordan Pope leads the Beavers in scoring, assists, 3-point percentage and free throw percentage (courtesy OSU sports communications)
Senior Dexter Akanno, a starting guard, is 10 for 40. Bilodeau is 6 for 25. Rataj is 1 for 12. Christian Wright is 4 for 22.
“We haven’t shot it anywhere close to what we’re capable of,” Tinkle says. “We have to improve. We want to take good quality 3’s. If we take 25 3’s — in some games 30 — we’re fine with that. But we haven’t shot it well so far.”
After going 0 for 10 from distance against Cal Poly, the Beavers have made 20 for 49 (.416) over the last three games.
“As our 3-point percentage has gone up, so have our points in the paint,” Tinkle says. “When we settle in, we think we’ll be well-balanced with scoring from both inside and out.
“We’ve faced some pretty physical teams in the non-league schedule. That’s going to bode well for us. As our guys have gotten more comfortable with our sets and motion and objectives, turnovers have gone down, assists are up and shooting has gotten better.
“When we hold the ball and don’t cut, that’s when we have struggled on offense. They guys know they have to have player and ball movement, cutting and screening with purpose. And we want to get out in transition. That happens when you play good defense and get the ball off the boards or out off of turnovers.”
Pope has been outstanding much of the time. The 6-2 sophomore guard leads the team in scoring (16.9 points), assists (3.6), 3-point percentage and free-throw percentage (.931) despite drawing the focus of every opponents’ defense.
“Jordan is at the top of everybody’s scouting report,” Tinkle says. “He has had his ups and downs. He has had to grow up a little bit. He’s a great kid, but expectations are high, and he gets punched in the face at times.
“He wants to perform well. He wants his team to win. It’s part of the maturation process. Dexter has been a consistent leader for our team and a role model for Jordan. Now he is locked into being a positive spirit and energy for his teammates to feed off of. We need that from him. He gets that. Every week, Jordan has taken another step with his play and his demeanor as our point guard and key guy.”
Bilodeau is averaging 11.5 points and 5.4 rebounds while shooting .473 from the field. He has been effective with the jump hook at close range. The 3-point percentage, however, is low.
“Tyler is putting a lot of pressure on himself,” Tinkle says. “I’m not worried about his shooting. We need him to be really good defensively and on the glass and the offense will flow. We’re asking him to be a kick-ass defender and rebounder.”
Collective, Ibekwe and Marial are averaging 11 points and nine rebounds in 31 minutes a game while shooting 57 percent from the field at the post position.
“Their production has been pretty good, but they’ve been inconsistent,” Tinkle says. “That’s true with our top eight or nine guys as a whole. We need seven or eight of them performing well, night in and night out.”
A leg injury kept Rataj out of action for the first three games. In his first start of the season, against Cal Poly, he scored 18 points with 10 rebounds.
“That’s the Michael Rataj we know,” tinkle says. “He’s not as explosive finishing or getting rebounds yet. Once he’s back to 100 percent physically, we’re going to see him flying around and his production will be back up.”
The biggest surprise has been 6-2 guard Josiah Lake II, the walk-on freshman who led Tualatin to the state 6A high school championship last March. Lake — whose father played for the Beavers from 1998-2000 under Eddie Payne — has been a key contributor off the bench. He is shooting .609 from the field while leading the team in steals and grabbing eight rebounds in one game. Lake has 24 assists and only four turnovers in 186 minutes.
“That’s why we wanted Josiah in our program,” Tinkle says. “He’s our kind of guy. He’s just fearless. He doesn’t have a ton of experience, but he has played a lot of minutes and he deserves it. He gets us easy baskets, and on defense, helps get us extra possessions. He has a great nose for the ball. He’s not afraid to mix it up. We love his disposition and energy on the floor.”
The other freshman guard is promising, too — 6-1 DaJohn Craig from Indianapolis, who didn’t sign until late in the summer.
“DaJohn is fearless, too,” Tinkle says. “He’s not afraid to make a play, to take a shot. He got here months later than the rest of the guys, and he’s still learning — it’s been baptism by fire. We have to get him to understand defensive principles, especially in our zone. As he gets better defensively and understands playing at his pace, we’ll see more of what he is capable of.”
UCLA comes to Corvallis at 5-6 and on a four-game losing streak. The Bruins’ competition has been much tougher than the Beavers’, though, with losses coming against Villanova, Ohio State, Cal State Northridge, Gonzaga, Marquette and Maryland. The Bruins lost some key pieces from the team that went 31-6 and reached the Sweet Sixteen a year ago. Southern Cal is 6-5, with losses to Cal Irvine, Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Long Beach State and Auburn. USC’s NET rating is 80. UCLA’s rating is an uncharacteristically low 172.
“UCLA has a lot of young guys, but coach (Mitch) Cronin will have them ready to go to battle,” Tinkle says. “They’re physical, scrappy, one of the better defensive teams we will face all year. You’re going to see both of these teams make progress and hit their stride at some point in conference play. We just hope it comes some time later than this week.”
Tinkle says his players will enter conference play with confidence in their abilities.
“We feel we can compete with any team in this conference,” he says. “We’re young. Teams will come at us, and we can’t be bullied. We have to be ready for the mental and physical battles upon us.
“We want to win more games than last year and hopefully be playing beyond the conference tournament. I love this group. They’re playing the right way. They’re fun to coach. They have to keep working and improving, and if they do, I think those wins will come.”
This will be the final year Pac-12 basketball as we know it. Next season, Oregon State moves into the West Coast Conference, featuring teams such as Gonzaga, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Clara, Saint Mary’s and Pepperdine.
“It’s great,” Tinkle says. “We now have a vision for where we’ll be the next couple of years. Those in our administration have worked tirelessly to get us not just a spot to land, but a pretty good spot. The conference is well-represented by a lot of strong programs. It’s real positive news for us.”
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