Athletics kicks off winter season
January 8, 2018
Basketball, swimming, wrestling, gymnastics begin.
Men’s Basketball
With 12 games underway and a civil war victory, men’s basketball is 10-5 overall and has already surpassed the number of last year’s total wins. They held a six-game winning streak until falling to Kent State 79 to 78, which was the longest winning streak the team has had in 13 seasons.
Forward Tres Tinkle returns this year after sitting out the last 26 games last year with a broken right wrist. So far, he leads the team in points per game averaging 18.3 and 7.1 rebounds per game.
Forward Drew Eubanks (13.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 0.5 assists per game) also returns as a major component to the team this year.
Guard Stephen Thompson Jr. (16.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.7 apg), last year’s leading scorer, returns to the team and was joined by brother and four-star recruit, guard Ethan Thompson (9.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.4 apg).
Last year’s record was 5-27 overall and 1-17 in conference play. The team finished eighth in the Pac-12 and won no away games. As a team, they are averaging 76 ppg and 36 rpg, compared to last year’s 63 ppg and 33 rpg.
The next game is on the road against No. 14 Arizona (12-4) Jan. 11, airing on Pac-12 Networks at 6 p.m. The next home game is against UCLA on Jan. 18 at 8 p.m., and will air on Fox Sports 1.
Women’s Basketball
Women’s basketball has risen to number 16 in the Associated Press rankings and second in the Pac-12 behind Arizona State. Their record is 11-4, with losses to No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 17 Duke, USC and a brutal 84-49 defeat to No. 14 UCLA, breaking their eight-game winning streak.
OSU currently ranks eighth in scoring defense, second in field goal percentage defense, fourth in field goal percentage and third in 3-point percentage in the nation.
Sophomore guard Mikayla Pivec returns for her second year and leads the team with 16.5 ppg and 7.1 rpg.
Senior center Marie Gulich is on the preseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy. In the 2016-2017 season, she was selected for the All-Pac-12 Selection.
Sophomore guard Kat Tudor also remains a key player on the team. She is currently ranked first in the Pac-12 in 3-pointers per game.
Junior guard Katie McWilliams returns for her third year averaging 30.5 minutes per game.
The next game is home in Gill Coliseum against No. 25 Arizona State (11-3) Jan. 14, at 6 p.m., airing on Pac-12 Networks. The team will face the Oregon Ducks during the Civil War on Jan. 19 and 21.
Wrestling
With two early wins against Eastern Oregon and George Mason, Oregon State wrestling (2-3) suffered a 0-48 loss to No. 9 Michigan, 13-30 loss to South Dakota and a 16-24 loss to Iowa State.
Beavers placed fourth at the 2017 Reno Tournament of Champions with five athletes placing, including redshirt senior Amaveer Dhesi, redshirt junior Ronnie Bresser, redshirt senior Jack Hathaway, sophomore Bob Coleman and redshirt junior Corey Griego. Dhesi brought home the heavyweight title after a 5-0 score for the day.
Oregon State finished in 12th place overall with Bresser receiving silver at the 55th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships. Bresser dropped a 2-1 decision to Rutgers’ Nick Suriano. This was Bresser’s second time making it to the Midlands Championships.
Iowa State came out on top beating OSU in all but four weight classes for their first win of the 2017-2018 season. Sophomore Kurt Mode, redshirt junior Corey Griego, Bresser and Dhesi won in their respective weight classes.
Their next match is home against Wyoming Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. Pac-12 Conference play begins on the road on Jan. 20, against 2017 Pac-12 Wrestling Champions Arizona State.
Swimming
Oregon State women’s swimming started with losses against Stanford, University of California Berkley, Seattle University and San Diego State.
Oregon State walked away from the 69th Husky Invite with two top finishes and six NCAA B cuts in early December. Sophomore Felicia Anderson and junior Arianna Letrari ended on top in their prelims. This put the team in third going into the finals.
Anderson, Letrari and freshman Callan Jackman all left the invite with personal bests. However, the team did not stay for the finals due to fall term finals, finishing with 361 points in fourth place.
Coming off of a 124-100 loss against San Diego State in late December, the team will go head to head at home against UCLA Jan. 12.
Gymnastics
With the majority of the team being underclassmen, the Oregon State women’s gymnastics team is relatively young with a combined total of six juniors and seniors out of the 19 total gymnasts. At the Orange & Black Exhibition 16 of the 19 gymnasts performed with four being freshmen in December.
The team is currently ranked No. 8, according to the College Gymnastics Association rankings.
Last year, the team took second in the Pac-12 Championships with a final team total of 197.4, falling to Utah. Oregon State’s very own Kaytianna McMillan, former senior, walked away with the title of Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year by a vote of conference coaches.
Senior Dani Dessaints returns this year after claiming a share of the Pac-12 vault title with a score of 9.950. Dessaints also tied for second place on the beam with a score of 9.950.
Their season starts off on the road against Pittsburgh on Jan. 13 and Utah on Jan. 19. The first home meet will take place Jan. 27 against Stanford.
Additional Sports
Besides the sports mentioned above, women’s track, men’s and women’s golf, softball, baseball and men’s and women’s rowing are active throughout winter term.
The season opener for baseball will kick off on the road against New Mexico in February. Softball stays active starting with the 2018 Kajikawa Classic in February. Women’s track will attend multiple meets throughout the term. Men’s golf competes in the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii in February, followed by the Southwestern Invitational later that month. Women’s golf travels to Arizona for the Westbrook Spring Invitational in February. Lastly, the women’s rowing team spring season will begin on the road against UCLA in March with the men’s team competing at the Vegas Invite just before.
Tickets
Student tickets for all sports games are available online as long as you are an enrolled and fee-paying Oregon State student or are participating in the dual-degree program with Linn-Benton Community College. Tickets are free to students.
1. Go to osubeavers.com/student and click the “student login” button.
2. Once you register your account using your ID # and OSU email, you can log in any time using the password you created.
3. Select the sport and game you want a ticket for.
4. Your ticket will be sent to your OSU email inbox.
5. Students will need to present their ticket on their smartphone as well as their ID to be admitted into an event.
Students who require accessible seating can call the Beaver Ticket Office at 541-737-4455 during business hours or email [email protected] to obtain their student ticket. Accessible seating for students will follow the same distribution schedule. Further questions can be directed to the Beaver Ticket Office.
Beaver Ticket Office 541-737-4455 [email protected] On Twitter @BeaverTickets