1/14/2020 basketball Edit

Oregon State MBB: Tuesday Report

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

Publisher

With the Oregon State men's basketball team fresh off an impressive win over then No. 24 Arizona, the Beavers now turn their attention to a road trip featuring stops in Seattle and Pullman to face Washington (11-6, 1-3 Pac-12) and Washington State (10-7, 1-3). BeaversEdge.com Managing Editor Brenden Slaughter was live at the basketball practice facility on Tuesday and has the latest on Wayne Tinkle's group.

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For the Oregon State men's basketball team, the first two weeks of conference play have yielded Dr.Jeykll-Mr.Hyde type performances.

In the Beavers' first four Pac-12 games, we've seen their potential when they play and execute correctly in wins over top-25 teams in Colorado and Arizona, but we've also seen what happens when they're not in sync as evidenced by puzzling losses to Utah and Arizona State.

While the Beavers hope Jekyll-Hyde personas ultimately turn into consistent, winning play, Wayne Tinkle noted that the team didn't make any wholesale adjustments after the loss to ASU, but rather challenged the players to play up to their abilities.

"After the ASU loss, there was a heightened sense of urgency," Wayne Tinkle said. "Our guys were caught off guard a bit when we practiced Friday and got after it. Our guys bought into the gameplan and responded. We didn't change or tweak anything, but rather challenged the guys to play like they were capable of."

While everything seemed to click for the Beavers against the Wildcats, Tres Tinkle noted that Wayne was most proud of the teams' defensive effort, holding Arizona to just 65 points by way of perhaps the best zone defense

"My dad was telling me that the zone-look against Arizona was probably the best he's coached in his years as a head coach at Montana and here," Tres Tinkle said. "It was night and day different from ASU, so now we've got to continue to grow and keep playing that way."

Forward Alfred Hollins, who had his best conference game of the season against Arizona, scoring 12 points, securing six boards, and hitting two threes, says that the Beavers' wins over Colorado and Arizona show what this team is capable of when they're firing on all cylinders.

"Those wins say a lot about what we can do," Hollins said. "It's a credit to the coaches for the work they put into the gameplan and us taking that to the game. We know what we're capable of, now we can't get too high or too low and just execute. We're happy we're winning, but we want to keep getting better."

In terms of trying to identify why the Beavers have been one kind of team in their conference wins vs losses, Tinkle noted that it's been a combination of factors.

"We've never gotten off to a bad start," Wayne Tinkle said. "Then, it's a substitution here, or momentum-changing, or a little bit of fatigue. All in all, our guys' focus has been there, but now it's about sustaining that effort for 40 minutes. We've shown we can do some really nice things, but now it's about maintaining for a full game."

Added guard Zach Reichle: "We can't be satisfied. We need to have the same fire after a loss as we do with a win, and we understand that a lot more now. We know what it takes and how good we can be, so now it's all about carrying that over. Since we know we can play like that, the toughest thing is going to be playing like that all the time."

With the Beavers set to head north for a two-game tilt against the Washington schools, Tres believes that things are starting to come together and that as long as everyone continues to trust the process, wins will start to stack up.

"We want to get to the point where we're not having to learn these lessons and keep splitting," Tres Tinkle said. "We're capable of getting sweeps at home and on the road and if we continue to keep buying in, that's exactly what's going to happen.