Oregon State basketball is ready to show it is for real after Elite Eight run
CORVALLIS, Ore. (BVM) – Last April, head coach Wane Tinkle and the rest of the Oregon State men’s basketball team left the court in Indianapolis disappointed, but not totally discouraged. It had exceeded plenty of expectations on its cinderella-type run to the Elite Eight in the NCAA March Madness tournament. And even though the team’s leader and longtime point guard Ethan Thompson was preparing to take his talents to the NBA following the tournament, the Beavers were ready to get going again in the fall, wanting to prove that their run was no fluke, and that they are here to stay.
To start off their 2021-2022 regular season, the Beavers were picked to finish tied for fourth in the Pac–12 standings this season, via Pac–12 Media members, as the Arizona State Sun Devils were also picked to finish fourth in the conference. The Pac-12 is full of talented teams, as it was the conference that surprised and dominated last year’s postseason.
Returning to the team is sharpshooter Jarod Lucas, as well as big men Roman Silva and Warith Alatishe from the team last year, along with a few transfers, highlighted by Dashawn Davis.
To kick off the season, Oregon State hosted an exhibition match on Thursday, Nov. 4 against Saint Martin’s, a Division ll school based out of Lacey, Washington. The Saints were picked to finish ninth in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) despite returning their top two scorers, Tyke Thompson and Alex Schumacher.
To kick off the exhibition match, head coach Wane Tinkle said that he would be experimenting with different lineups throughout the exhibition game, and warned people not to judge the outcome or the stats from the exhibition game too heavily. Tinkle covered that among other things in the post game presser.
“We showed some signs of rust and sloppy play, but that is what this game is for,” Tinkle said. “I thought we got everything we needed out of this game tonight, and more, so I’m glad that Beaver nation got to be back in the building for this one.”
The exhibition game against Saint Martin’s is not exactly how Tinkle expects the team to play throughout the rest of the season.
“Tonight we had a few guys from last year’s team making plays and helping us out, while we also had some new guys, some transfers, still figuring things out and that is going to take time, but we are willing to work on anything and everything to get all of our guys on the same page,” Tinkle said.
In the exhibition game, it was a back and forth effort most of the second half. After the Saints took a big lead into halftime, the Beavers slowly chipped away and made it close down to the very last second.
Speaking of new transfers, Oregon State’s Dashawn Davis, a junior college transfer from Trinity Valley Community College, dribbled out the clock until taking a fadeaway dagger three-pointer that ended up going down, sending Oregon State to victory by an 83-80 score.
“I knew the play that (Coach Tinkle) drew up wasn’t going to work, that they were gonna block my path to the rim, so I knew I just had to rise up and drain it. It was a good feeling,” Davis said.
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