OSU basketball has started practice and held their media day on Tuesday

Oregon State men’s basketball hosted the media after practice on Tuesday in the OSU Basketball Center.

For the first time since March, players and coaches spent time relaying their summer activities and excitements for the upcoming season.

Sophomore Forward, Tres Tinkle is especially excited to get back on the court after being held out of the Beaver’s lone NCAA tournament game in the last 26 years due to a broken fifth metatarsal in his right foot, which was surgically repaired in April.

“I’m super excited. It’s been probably just over six months since I’ve really played full contact. I mean, today was the first time I’ve done any kind of contact,” Tinkle said. “My instincts kicked in and I just wanted to compete and go out there and do what I could.”

Coach Tinkle had to pull his son from certain drills due to his over-competitiveness.

“We let him do a little bit of a three-on-two drill and I told him to just stay outside the three-point line. Of course he didn’t listen. He tried to drive in there a couple times so we had to pull him out because his instincts took over,” coach Tinkle said. “Once he’s cleared, we don’t want to treat him with kid’s gloves, but we do want to make sure we aren’t running him into the ground. He has been out for basically seven months now. But I bet by the middle of next week, he’ll be fully cleared.”

Injuries weren’t the only reason players have been affected. Former guard, Malcolm Duvivier decided to forgo his senior season for “personal reasons”. It isn’t yet clear who will be filling in for the two-year starter.

“He had started for us for two years,” coach Tinkle said. “He was probably our most experienced player, and maybe one of the most experienced guy in the league. So taking that away obviously impacts you in a negative way. But, you know we can’t do anything about that but get better. These guys need to toughen out and continue to grind and improve and try to find a way to make up for it.”

The battle for the starting job has seemingly come down to junior Ronnie Stacy and freshman Jaquori McLaughlin.

“It’s tough, we have a bunch of great point guards right now. It depends on what the coaches are looking for, it might differ game to game depending on the other team’s point guard and matchups,” Tinkle said. “But, (Stacy) is a great guy, because he can push the ball and he defends. Then we have (McLaughlin) who is real athletic, can shoot, score, you know can really do it all, but Ronnie has a little more experience and strength on him.

“It’s kind of gonna go up in the air and see who battles, they both come and compete, go head to head every single day.”

Sophomore forward Drew Eubanks had a busy summer that included competing in Australia and working on his physicality.

“I wanted to get up to 250, and I’m there right now,” Eubanks said. “I had some weakness because I wasn’t as strong against the Jakob Poelt (of Utah) and the Josh Scott (of Colorado) of the Pac-12. So this year that’s what I really wanted to focus on in the off season.”

Corvallis native sophomore Tanner Sanders returned to the basketball team on scholarship after a brief stint with the baseball team last year. He was a walk-on in 2014.

“It feels awesome. Honestly playing in front of beaver nation is cool for any sport,” said Sanders. “I’ve got to experience all of them now, but playing in Gill is something special there’s a lot of history for it.”

Sanders looks to contribute anyway he can this season.

“When I come on the court, I’m trying to be a nice glue guy, make sure to communicate well, defense is played, and then when I get my open shot I’m looking to shoot it and knock it  down.”

How the team will perform has yet to be determined, but players think they may be able to pick up right where they left off last year.

“I think we have a really talented team that can do everything we did last year, if not even better,” said Tinkle.