The new guys look good as Beavers open 2020-21 slate with win over Bears
Warith Alatishe knocking down a J. (Karl Maasdam)
I liked a lot of what I saw Wednesday night in our first look at Oregon State in the post-Tres Tinkle era, a 71-63 non-conference win over California in a mostly empty Gill Coliseum.
A few observations …
• Coach Wayne Tinkle unveiled most of the recruiting class he has been so excited about, and the newcomers not only didn’t disappoint, they shined.
Tinkle brought in four junior transfers this season along with freshman Isaiah Johnson, and all but 6-5 guard Tarique Silver — who sat out with a sprained ankle — saw action.
Warith Alatishe, a lithe 6-7 forward who reminds a little of Nicolas Batum, was the game’s first star. The transfer from Nicholls State and native Nigerian had 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting, grabbed eight rebounds, had a couple of assists and steals and made a Swiss Army knife type of debut. Not bad for a kid who just got cleared to play this season by the NCAA a week ago.
“Warith is a very skilled player with a great basketball IQ,” Tinkle told the media after Wednesday’s opener. “I like his length and athleticism and the head on his shoulders. We knew those characteristics made him a special player.
“He has never been a 3-point guy, but I’ve been on him to shoot it,” Coach Tinkle told me later. “When he doesn’t think about it and lets it fly, he shoots at a good percentage. Unless you take a couple of 3’s now and then, the defenses don’t have to play you honest. He did a lot of good things tonight.”
Maurice Calloo, a 6-10, 220-pound Canadian who played at Oklahoma State as a freshman and Indian Hills JC in Ottumwa, Iowa, as a sophomore, also started, contributing eight points and four rebounds in 27 minutes. He showed some range by knocking down 2 of 3 attempts from 3-point range.
“He is a big guy with length who can shoot it and handle it,” Tinkle said. “He was a little casual with the ball at times, but I like what he can give us.”
Rodrique Andela, 6-8, 250-pound post from Kilgore (Texas) JC who is built like Zion Williamson, hauled in 11 rebounds to go with four points on 2-3 shooting in 23 minutes off the bench.
“He’s a specimen,” Tinkle says. “He goes after every rebound and loose ball.”
Tinkle also likes Silver, a junior transfer from Tallahassee (Fla.) JC who played at Eastern Michigan as a freshman, and Johnson, a 6-6 small forward from Bishop Montgomery High in Torrance, Cal. — the alma mater of Stevie Thompson Jr. and Ethan Thompson.
Johnson saw three minutes of duty against the Bears.
“I really like him,” Tinkle says. “He’s going to figure into things. He plays his balls off and is probably our second-most athletic guy behind Warith. He’ll play a lot more on Friday (10 a.m. against Northwest University at Gill).”
Silver, ranked the 17th-best JC player in the country a year ago by JucoRecruiting.com, is a marksman who shot .455 from beyond the arc last season. He’ll make his debut Friday.
Coach Marlon Stewart (osubeavers.com)
• At first blush, Alatishe, Andela and Calloo appear Pac-12-ready. Much of the recruiting credit goes to second-year assistant coach Marlon Stewart, who began at OSU as the program’s director of basketball operations in 2018-19. Stewart, 35, is personable and seems well-suited to hit the trail and sell the Beavers to recruits.
Tinkle says his newcomers are coachable and willing to learn and work hard. Andela and Alatishe led an assault on the boards in which the Beavers won the battle underneath 43-32. A year ago, Cal’s post players dominated against the Beavers and 7-foot, 215-pound center Kylor Kelley. This year, with 7-1 Roman Silva, Calloo, Andela and 6-10, 240-pound sophomore Dearon Tucker, the Beavers have a physical presence inside.
• The Beavers were at less than full strength against the Bears, who finished 14-18 overall and 7-11 in Pac-12 play but upset Stanford in the conference tournament a year ago. Besides Silver, sophomore point guard Gianni Hunt (concussion protocol) and redshirt freshman small forward Julien Franklin (ankle) sat out. Franklin will play Friday; Hunt isn’t yet ready to return to action. Tucker, too, saw limited minutes against Cal as he recovers from an ankle sprain.
“We were shorthanded, especially at guard,” Tinkle says. “Ethan’s not where he needs to be shape-wise, and we had to play him more minutes (34) than we’d hoped.
“Our vets played hard, but not all that well. Everybody was a little giddy the first game, and they were trying to do too much at times. But I was really happy with the new guys.”
• Oregon State missed a lot of bunnies — Thompson was 6 for 17 from the field and sophomore guard Jarod Lucas was 2 for 9 — was careless with the ball at times (13 turnovers) and missed eight free throws (Lucas was 7 for 7; the rest of the team a combined 7 for 15). The Beavers led by 13 points with 4 1/2 minutes to play and, after Cal cut the difference to five in the final minute, had to hold on to win.
Tinkle: “I was glad that, even through a lot of mistakes, we found a way to win against a tough, physical team.”
• With Tres Tinkle — OSU’s career scoring leader and second on the career rebound list — and Kelley departing seniors, the media picked the Beavers to finish last in the Pac-12 this season. And the voting wasn’t close. Extra motivation?
“I don’t know,” Coach Tinkle said Wednesday night. “I know (the poll results are) a lot more about who we lost than who we have. But come on — give me a break.”
• I asked Wayne how it felt to play inside an arena devoid of fans due to COVID-19.
“I was worried about it,” he confessed. “I thought maybe it would have been better to start on the road. But I was impressed with our crew to where it didn’t seem that bad. You know the closed scrimmages we have every year with other schools in the preseason? I was expecting that type of atmosphere. But with the artificial crowd noise, the cutouts and the way our guys pulled for each other, I didn’t feel like we lost a whole lot. Don’t get me wrong — there’s nothing like when that home crowd gets going at Gill — but I was pleased.”
Beaver defenders, from left, Alatishe, Jared Lucas and Rodrique Andela, swarm a Bear ball handler. (Karl Maasdam)
• The Beavers had initially been scheduled to open against Colorado State, which pulled out of what was to be a two-day, four-team event due to positive COVID-19 tests. The Rams were supposed to play at Cal on Wednesday and at OSU on Thursday. On Monday, the Beavers arranged to play the Bears Wednesday in the Beavers’ first non-league regular-season game against a conference opponent in 25 years and moved their Wednesday date with Northwest — an NAIA school — to Friday.
“Last thing Mark (Fox, the Cal coach) and I wanted to do was open the season with a league opponent, but our guys needed to play,” Tinkle says. “So we said, ‘Let’s get our guys on the court.’
“It was a tough game tonight, but win or lose, this is way better for us than a 30-point win against whoever it would have been.”
Tres Tinkle (Scobel Wiggins)
• Tres Tinkle has signed an “exhibit 10” free-agent contract with the NBA champion L.A. Lakers after going unchosen in the recent draft. An “exhibit 10” deal amounts to a training camp pact that allows for an NBA team to easily transition a player to its G-League affiliate.
The Lakers’ roster is basically set. However, there are a couple of things working in Tinkle’s favor. The Lakers had no picks in the recent draft after trading both their first- and second-round selections.
“They’ve been talking to Tres’ agent since well before the draft,” Coach Tinkle says. “In some ways, it’s better to be a free agent and have a choice of team rather than be taken in the second half of the second round.”
Also: Though camp is slated to start on Dec. 1, the Lakers will enter off a very short off-season. The closing Game 6 of the NBA Finals was on Oct. 11. That means veterans such as LeBron James and Anthony Davis won’t do much through training camp and three or four preseason games.
Coach Tinkle: “Tres was told, ‘You’ll get reps. If you impress in practice, it will earn you some game time (during the preseason).’ ”
Still, it’s most likely the 6-7 small forward’s best option will be to earn a two-way contract with the Lakers and their G-League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers — assuming there is G-League competition this winter.
Watch the post game press conference here:
Readers: what are your thoughts on the 2020-21 Beaver men’s basketball team, with one game under their belts? Share your comments below.
Reach out to Kerry Eggers here.
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