Wayne Tinkle paced back-and-forth in front of the Oregon State bench. His collared shirt was soaked through under both arms, as he discarded his jacket minutes earlier during a heated dispute with an official.
This was no time for manners.
With 2:35 remaining, UCLA’s Gyorgy Goloman drove in a layup to cut a once 17-point OSU lead to two.
Tinkle waved his hands in the air – probably in an effort to engage the 6,024 inside Gill Coliseum – and watched junior forward Olaf Schaftenaar sink a 3-pointer, giving the Beavers a two-possession cushion. The crowd cheered, and Tinkle could breathe a short sigh of relief.
From there UCLA fell victim to OSU’s zone, and the Beavers made free throws down the stretch, escaping with a 66-55 win to remain unbeaten in Corvallis. The script was similar to OSU’s other wins this season – the defense shut down a strong offensive team by controlling the tempo of the game and forcing shooters out of the paint. UCLA finished 30.6 percent from the floor, completing only 19 shots on 62 attempts. The Bruins did pick up 35 rebounds (17 offensive), but missed junior forward Tony Parker down low, who didn’t make the trip from Los Angeles due to back spasms.
What Tinkle has done with his defense-first mentality is take a team that is young, and raw, and turned it into a wall. In his first season, he’s brought the OSU program back from everlasting mediocrity by recognizing it isn’t going to win any shootouts. Instead, he’s focused on what he can teach quickly and effectively – stopping the other team from scoring points. Opponents can’t break the zone, escape traps, or find quality shots, and the Beavers are slowly finding ways to turn those mistakes into points.
Thursday night, OSU shot 51.2 percent, led by sophomore guard Malcolm Duvivier with 19 points, and junior guard Gary Payton II with 18 – Payton added five steals, in keeping with his usual routine. Near the end of the first half, Payton created turnovers on back-to-back UCLA possessions, and capitalized twice, with a layup and a slam, respectively.
The depth issue was less of one Thursday night with Payton’s hot shooting in the first half and Duvivier’s in the second – junior forward Victor Robbins sat out his third of 10 games after he was suspended last week for violating athletic policy – though OSU did watch its strong lead dwindle during the second half, and started to show some fatigue, as four of the five starters played 34-plus minutes. Granted, Tinkle seems to almost have the players conditioned to expect the long minutes, as it’s become less of a factor game-to-game.
The Beavers improve to 13-5 (4-2 Pac-12) with the victory, and host a reeling USC team (9-9, 1-5 Pac-12) Saturday night at 6 p.m. If the Beavers continue to grind out wins during the second half of conference play, OSU will invite its first major postseason conversation in a quarter century.
In 1990, OSU made its most recent trip to the NCAA tournament, losing to Ball State in the first round. For perspective, here are some other things that happened in 1990: the first “Home Alone” hit theatres; Microsoft announced Windows 3.0; I was born. Yes, it’s still January. Yes, it’s early to start talking about the Big Dance. But the Beavers were picked to finish last in the Pac-12 prior to this season, and, so far, have turned into the conference’s Cinderella team.
Tinkle is obviously playing the role of fairy godmother.
He’s helped OSU find the shoe that perfectly fits with his defensive strategy, and reenergized a program that has passed as mediocre for 25 years. All OSU has left to do this season is emulate what it did against UCLA Thursday night – run out the clock before it turns back into a pumpkin.
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