Beavers Set For Regular-Season Opener

by osubeavers.com
Nov 10, 2014

Instagram

THE GAME: The Wayne Tinkle era officially begins when Oregon State opens its regular season at 7 p.m. on Friday when Rice visits Gill Coliseum in a game televised on the Pac-12 Networks.

TELEVISION: The game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks with Rich Burk and Ben Braun calling the action.

RADIO: The game will air live on Beaver Sports Radio Network with Mike Parker calling the action.

LIVE STATS: There will be live stats at this link.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Live updates will be available on Twitter and Facebook.

FULL COURT FRIDAY: For one night only, get FREE access to ten Pac-12 Men's Basketball season openers including Oregon State vs. Rice on Pac-12.com as part of Full Court Friday on Nov. 14.  

TICKETS: Oregon State is offering an exclusive #Commit2Wayne ticket plan that provides fans with season tickets for a flat $199 (tickets were $364 last season). The price will gradually step up the following seasons ($249, $299, $349) but remain affordable, and there is no obligation to commit to all four years. Season tickets will be $349 next year and beyond for fans who do not take advantage of this unique opportunity this year. Fans can secure their season tickets for a $25 deposit by calling 800-GO-BEAVS or visiting beavertickets.com.

NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE NIGHT: To celebrate Native American Heritage Night on Friday, the first 300 Oregon State students to enter Gill Coliseum will receive a free t-shirt. The Canoe Family will also perform at halftime.

PAUL VALENTI TRIBUTE: Every ticket this season will feature an image of Paul Valenti, an Oregon State athlete, coach, administrator and goodwill ambassador for more than 70 years, who passed away this past September. The team will wear a PV patch on their jerseys in honor of the Oregon State legend.

QUICKLY: Oregon State enters its 114th season as the 22nd-winningest program in Division I college basketball with 1,670 victories … Wayne Tinkle makes his Oregon State head coaching debut after leading Montana to three NCAA Tournament appearances and 158 victories, the second most in school history ... The Beavers don’t have a senior on the roster for just the third time since 1950 (1978-79 and 2003-04 are the others) ... Returning players started 32 out of a possible 160 games last season ... In Pac-12 team production returning this season, Oregon State is eighth in blocked shots (33.6%), 10th in steals (29.7%), 11th in rebounding (24.5%) and assists (19.8%), and 12th in scoring (19.1%) ... Chai Baker will not be cleared to compete athletically; he suffered a cardiac arrest on Aug. 19 at the OSU Basketball Center ... The team will wear PV patches on their uniforms to honor Oregon State legend Paul Valenti who passed away in September.

vs. RICE: Oregon State and Rice meet for the third time in history, and the first in 37 years, with the series tied 1-1. The Owls won the first meeting, 54-55, on Dec. 19, 1956 at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis. The great Temple Tucker led Rice with 17 points, while All-American Dave Gambee had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Beavers.

Oregon State got revenge, albeit 21 years later, when they won 75-58 on Dec. 27, 1977 in the opening game of the Far West Classic in Portland. Rickey Lee (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Bill McShane (14 points, 12 rebounds) both posted double-doubles for the Beavers in the victory.

Oregon State is 5-5 in its last 10 season openers overall and 8-2 in its last 10 season openers that were played at Gill Coliseum.

THE ROSTER: Here are some quick-hitters about the 2014-15 Oregon State men’s basketball team:

  • The 16-man roster includes 10 scholarship players and six walk-ons.
  • All six walk-ons are from the State of Oregon.
  • The roster doesn’t include a senior. Since 1950, the only other times Oregon State didn’t have a senior were 1978-79 and 2003-04 when those teams went 18-10 and 12-16, respectively.
  • Daniel Gomis and Alex Roth, who redshirted last season after walking-on, are both questionable to play in the opener with shoulder injuries.
  • Justin Stangel, a practice player last season, was awarded a scholarship for his hard work during the summer.
  • AJ Hedgecock, Dylan Livesay, Matt Dahlen, Bryan Boswell and Tanner Sanders were all added to the official roster after the team held open tryouts on Oct. 4. A total of 22 Oregon State students participated in the open tryouts.
  • Four players competed in all 32 games last season and two of them are returning: Malcolm Duvivier and Daniel Gomis.
  • Four returners started a combined 32 games last season. They are Langston Morris-Walker (17), Victor Robbins (11), Daniel Gomis (2) and Jarmal Reid (2).
  • Returning statistical leaders from last season include:
  • The returners have a combined eight double-figure scoring games and one double-figure rebounding game.
  • Daniel Gomis has been at Oregon State longer than anyone on the roster. He missed the 2011-12 season after breaking his leg, redshirted the 2012-13 season after having surgery on that leg and played his redshirt sophomore season in 2013-14.
  • Gary Payton II and Justin Stangel’s fathers both played basketball at Oregon State. The elder Payton was a consensus All-American and still holds the school records for career points, assists and steals. Justin’s father, Jamie, played in 1980, ‘82, ‘83 and ‘84 (the Beavers won the Pac-10 title three of those years). Payton II will wear No. 1 (his father’s No. 20 is retired) and Justin will wear the same number his father wore at Oregon State, No. 40.
  • Olaf Schatenaar’s brother, Roeland, played basketball for Oregon State from 2007-10 and was Most Valuable Player at the 2009 College Basketball Invitational when the Beavers won the CBI championship.
  • Matt Dahlen and Tanner Sander’s fathers both played football for Oregon State. Chris Dahlen played for the Beavers from 1982-86 and Scott Sanders played from 1986-89.

WHAT’S MISSING: Here are some quick-hitters about what Oregon State will be missing this season with the departures of players graduating, transferring or leaving early to play professionally:

  • Angus Brandt, Devon Collier and Roberto Nelson graduated, Challe Barton and Eric Moreland left after their junior seasons to play professionally, and Hallice Cooke transferred to Iowa State after his freshman campaign.
  • Those six players had combined career totals of: 5,284 points, 2,328 rebounds, 915 assists, 400 blocked shots, 403 steals, 247 double-figure scoring games, 55 double-figure rebounding games, 35 double-doubles and 591 games played.
  • On Oregon State’s career lists, Roberto Nelson is fourth all-time in scoring (1,745), Devon Collier is seventh all-time in scoring (1,489), eighth in rebounds (679) and third in blocked shots (134), and Eric Moreland is the all-time leader in blocked shots (184) and fifth all-time in rebounds (762).
  • Last season, Roberto Nelson was selected to the All-Pac-12 Second Team, Eric Moreland was named Pac-12 All-Defensive Honorable Mention and Hallice Cooke was named Pac-12 All-Freshmen Honorable Mention.
  • Last season, Roberto Nelson led the Pac-12 in scoring, Devon Collier led the league in field goal percentage and Hallice Cooke finished second in the conference in three-point percentage.
  • Angus Brandt was a three-time team captain and received Pac-12 All-Academic recognition four times.

THE COACHING STAFF: Here are some quick-hitters about the new Oregon State men’s basketball coaching staff:

  • The coaching staff of head coach Wayne Tinkle, associate head coach Kerry Rupp, and assistant coaches Gregg Gottlieb and Stephen Thompson have a combined 58 years coaching experience at the college level.
  • The staff has earned a combined 14 NCAA Tournament berths.
  • Rupp was the head coach at Louisiana Tech from 2007-11 and Thompson was the head coach at Cal State L.A. from 2005-14.
  • Gottlieb is the Pac-12’s longest-tenured assistant coach after spending the past seven seasons at California.
  • Tinkle went 3-5 overall in season openers at Montana and 3-0 at home.

OTHER NEW FACES: Kurt Paulson was added to the staff as the Director of Basketball Operations and Rachi Wortham joined as the Director of Player Personnel. Paulson worked for Tinkle at Montana as an assistant coach in 2013-14 and as a graduate assistant coach in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Wortham was an assistant coach at EWU from 2007-11 under head coach Kirk Earlywine after playing for the Eagles from 2003-05 when the team made its only trip to the NCAA Tournament in school history.

 QUICK LOOK AT LANGSTON: Langston Morris-Walker is Oregon State’s top returning scorer at 4.0 points per game and has stepped up as the leader of the team. He represented Oregon State at Pac-12 Media Day and also participated in a Beavers Without Borders service trip to the Dominican Republic. LMW said he will continue to strum an air guitar after making a three-pointer, a tradition he started in grade school.

QUICK LOOK AT MALCOLM: In the regular-season finale against Arizona State at Gill Coliseum, Malcolm Duvivier had his best game as a Beaver, posting career highs with 13 points, four field goals, seven field goal attempts, three three-pointers and four three-point attempts. He also got his first career blocked shot.

QUICK LOOK AT OLAF: The coaching staff has worked with Olaf Schaftenaar to be more of an offensive force inside the three-point line. In his first two seasons, Schaftenaar put up 167 shots with 136 of those coming from beyond the arc.

QUICK LOOK AT CHEIKH: After playing 71 minutes last season, Cheikh N’diaye is expected to start and get more playing time. The 7-footer was part of the Pac-12 All-Star Team that went to China this past summer, and that experience should help him this season.

QUICK LOOK AT GOMIS: Daniel Gomis missed the exhibition game and is expected to be out another two weeks with a shoulder injury. He played all 32 games last season after missing the previous two years with a broken leg.

QUICK LOOK AT VICTOR AND JARMAL: Now juniors, Victor Robbins and Jarmal Reid are expected to play bigger roles this season. They both have starting experience, as Reid started 17 games as a freshman and two last season, while Victor Robbins started the first 11 games a year ago.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON?: Gary Payton started his Oregon State career in style by making his first shot, a three-pointer, just 20 seconds into the game at UTEP on Nov. 29, 1986. He finished the game with 16 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Will his son, Gary Payton II, also hit a triple to begin his Beaver career?

CHAI BAKER UPDATE: Doctor Douglas Aukerman, director of sports medicine at Oregon State University, met with Chai Baker and his family members on Nov. 5 and shared that following a medical review, Baker will not be cleared to compete athletically for the Beavers’ men’s basketball team.

Baker suffered a cardiac arrest Aug. 19 in OSU’s Basketball Practice Facility and was promptly administered first aid by a sports medicine staff member before being transported to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. Baker was released from the Center Aug. 27 and has returned to being a full-time student on campus, but has not practiced with the team. Baker’s scholarship will be honored by the University throughout his academic career.

PLAYING PROFESSIONALLY: Seven Oregon State players who competed for the Beavers over the past three seasons are playing professionally, including two in the NBA. It’s the first time two Oregon State players have been in the NBA at the same time since 2006-07, when Gary Payton played his final season with the Miami Heat and Brent Barry helped the San Antonio Spurs win the NBA title.

Challe Barton – Sundsvall Dragons (Sweden)
Angus Brandt – Sydney Kings (Australia)
Joe Burton – Landstede Basketball Zwolle (Holland)
Devon Collier – Hapoel Kazrin (Israel)
Roberto Nelson – Basket Brescia Leonessa (Italy)
Eric Moreland – Sacramento Kings
Jared Cunningham – Los Angeles Clippers

25th ANNIVERSARY: This is the 25th anniversary of Gary Payton being named Sports Illustrated National Player of the Year. The Glove averaged 25.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 8.1 assists and 3.5 steals that season, and led the Beavers to the NCAA Tournament, the last time OSU has been there.

SCHEDULE NOTES: The 2014-15 schedule features 21 games on the Pac-12 Networks, four on the ESPN family of networks and three on Fox Sports 1 ... Oregon State will compete in the MGM Grand Main Event Heavyweight bracket on Monday, Nov. 24 and Wednesday, Nov. 26 in Las Vegas; other teams include Oklahoma State, Auburn and Tulsa ... Mississippi State (Saturday, Dec. 13) and DePaul (Thursday, Dec. 18) will visit Gill Coliseum for the first time ever, while UCSB (Tuesday, Dec. 30) will make the trek to Gill Coliseum for the first time since 1986 ... The Pac-12 slate begins on Saturday, Jan. 3 with a trip to Eugene to face Oregon in the 343rd Civil War ... The Pac-12 Tournament will be held in Las Vegas, Nev., for the third consecutive year, beginning on Wednesday, March 11 with all games being played at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

GIVE & GO FEATURES: There were Q&A’s done with six Oregon State basketball players recently and here are some of their quotes (the full Q&A’s can be read on osubeavers.com):

Malcolm Duvivier: “I learned so much from Roberto Nelson. On offense he taught me all the little things that he did to be able to score. He was a great teacher. Guarding one of the best scorers ever every day was a big challenge. I’m starting to implement what he taught me into my game to become a better scorer.”

Daniel Gomis: “I am always trying to get everything in the positive side. I came here and had some adversity to deal with some broken legs but I always tried to keep it positive. No matter how hard things are there are people who have it way tougher than you.”

Langston Morris-Walker: “I didn’t really show what I can do to the world, because I was more of a role player. Everybody coming back, we haven’t really shown anybody what we can do. I feel we can be a good team. No one knows us. People are always quick to judge us because our group hasn’t really accomplished anything, but they don’t know what we can do.”

Gary Payton II: “We didn’t think the Mitten fit for me (as a nickname) because I’m not going to be a replica of my dad and what he did. So we don’t know what we’re going to go with. Everybody has been using G2. We’ll see. But no Mitten.”

Victor Robbins: “You just can’t give up when your back is against the wall because it’s going to happen plenty of times. It’s going to happen plenty of times this season. We just have to stay together. We just have to keep it pushing forward.”

Olaf Schaftenaar: “It’s the role I was in my first two years; I was used as a shooter, to take a bunch of shots. If they go in, that’s nice. That was my role. This year it’s going to be a lot different. I’m going to be more of an inside presence, not just scoring, but make defenses collapse. I think I’m a pretty good passer and I can get my teammates the ball that way.”