Oregon State may have surprised many last season when the Beavers reached the program’s first NCAA Tournament in more than a quarter of a century.
Wayne Tinkle’s club will attempt to replicate that success this season, however, it will be without the services of Gary Payton II. On Thursday, Tinkle received good news regarding his son, and team’s top returning scorer, Tres.
The 6-foot-8 sophomore forward has been cleared to return to all basketball activities on Thursday, according to Danny Moran of The Oregonian. Tres Tinkle has been recovering from a surgery in April to fix a broken bone in his right foot.
The injury, suffered in March, forced Tinkle to miss the final five games of the season, including a first-round loss to VCU in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
Tinkle averaged 13.1 points and 5.4 assists per game in his first season in Corvallis. He’ll headline a young roster, accompanied by fellow sophomore, Stephen Thompson Jr., who also ended his first collegiate season averaging double figures. Four-star recruit JaQuori McLaughlin will assume the point guard duties left behind by Payton II. However, it’ll be difficult for anyone, especially a freshman, to replicate the stats Payton II produced, and I’m not talking about points. Payton II, at 6-foot-3, recorded team-highs in rebounds (7.8), assists (5.0) and steals (2.5) per game.
The Beavers may have made the jump into the NCAA Tournament picture a year or two earlier than expected. Regardless, a healthy Tinkle keeps them competitive in the Pac-12 this season, especially when you factor in that several teams, like Oregon State, have their own questions to address.
Oregon State opens the season on Nov. 11 against Prairie View A&M.