Numbers to Know: Oregon State (2-1) vs Long Beach State (2-1)

Oregon State just beat Long Beach State by a score of 89-81. Against the rangy athletes of Long Beach State, the Beavers alternated stretches of dominance with stretches of sloppiness, ultimately leaning on the prowess of Drew Eubanks to finish off the undersized 49ers.

It is a bit concerning that, three games into his fourth season as head coach, it seems that Wayne Tinkle's squads often struggle with consistency. This 2017-18 version of Oregon State hoops is no different. When they are clicking they look like a Pac-12 contender. When they are not, they look like that 5-27 team from last season.

Here are some numbers from the game:

13 - Combined points by Tres Tinkle and Drew Eubanks in the first 6:35 of the game. Long Beach State does have an athletic squad but they clearly lacked the height to hang with the Beaver bigs. Early on, Oregon State actively sought to exploit the mismatch that was anyone vs. Eubanks, and it worked well.

5:58 - Consecutive minutes and seconds that Oregon State went scoreless in the middle of the first half. The score was 18-9 with 13:25 to go in the first half, and when Oregon State finally scored again the clock was down to 7:27. Fortunately for the Beavers, Long Beach State struggled during that same period of time and only managed to score four points during that near-six minute stretch.

Is this a possible red flag moving forward? Possibly. Against better competition that kind of dry spell will lose a game.

25 - Combined first-half points for Tinkle and Eubanks. These two were the reason that Oregon State went into the half with a 40-31 lead.

11 - First-half turnovers committed by the Beavers. This is the reason that 40-31 halftime lead was only a nine point cushion. Simply put, Oregon State's sloppy play kept the game close.

46 - Combined points in the game for Eubanks and Tinkle. In a game that was roughly a 10-point spread for the majority of the minutes, it was the solid play by Oregon State's two best players that made the tight game feel like a Beaver victory was imminent.

21.3 - Tres Tinkle's per game scoring average through three games. Tinkle, after missing nearly all of last season with an injury, has started this season with a bang. If Tinkle were to average this 21.3 points per game for the duration of the season, it would be tied (Mel Counts, 1962-63) for the 4th-best single-season scoring average in Oregon State history.

26, 10 - Points and rebounds for Drew Eubanks in the game. In scoring 26 points the big man went 9/12 from the field and 6/6 from the free throw line. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked two shots. Tres Tinkle might be the best all-around player on the Beavers roster, but this game was decided by Drew Eubanks being the most dominant player on the court.

Oregon State (2-1) next travels to Orlando, Florida to play St. John's (3-0) in the first round of the Advocare Invitational. The tournament begins on Thursday, November 23rd.