‘From the Mike Montgomery coaching tree’: Wayne Tinkle’s Oregon State team presents Gonzaga with stern road test
Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle chats with guard Nate Kingz during a November game against Oregon at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore. (Tribune News Service)
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle and Gonzaga counterpart Mark Few go back nearly three decades.
They first met when Tinkle, playing professionally in the 1990s after a standout career at Montana, helped at then-GU head coach Dan Fitzgerald’s camps.
“So I met ‘Mons’ (Dan Monson), Mark, Leon (Rice), Billy (Grier),” said Tinkle, mentioning several coaches who played instrumental roles in Gonzaga’s ascension into a national power. “There was a year before I got into coaching (in 2001) when Gonzaga came over to play the Griz and we all met for a beer.”
When Tinkle, a Ferris High grad, entered the coaching profession, first as an assistant at Montana and later as the Grizzlies head coach, he regularly attended Few’s Coaches vs. Cancer fundraisers.
Tinkle’s ties to GU and Spokane go back even further to when his late father, Wayne Sr., served as Gonzaga’s dean of students. Tinkle spent his grade school and high school years in Spokane and attended Zags games at Kennedy Pavilion, precursor to the Martin Centre.
“When I went to games, there was hardly anyone there,” said Tinkle, whose daughter Elle was a GU standout from 2013-17 and is married to former Zags forward Jeremy Jones. “Just seeing where that program came from to where it is now, it’s incredible. Part of me, to be honest, is proud to be able to see what they’ve done, but obviously as competitors, we have to flip the switch.”
Which brings us to Thursday’s Gonzaga-Oregon State West Coast Conference matchup at Gill Coliseum. Tinkle, who guided OSU to the 2021 Elite Eight after being picked last in the Pac-12, has the Beavers in position for their first winning season since that magical 2021 season.
Now in his 11th season, Tinkle posted five winning seasons and one .500 season at a program that had just two winning records in 24 years prior to his arrival.
The Beavers (13-5, 3-2 WCC) would be in second place by themselves if they hadn’t yielded a tip-in in the closing seconds of an 82-81 overtime loss to Santa Clara. Instead, they share fifth with fellow affiliate member Washington State but have the same number of losses as fourth-place San Francisco (4-2).
Add in back-to-back three-point losses to rival Oregon and North Texas in November and Oregon State, like No. 16 Gonzaga, is probably kicking itself over crunch-time setbacks.
Still, OSU has made a major turnaround after win totals of three, 11 and 13 in the previous three seasons. Junior forward Michael Rataj (16.6 points, 8.5 rebounds) is an All-WCC candidate. The German native is one of nine international players, second only to UT Martin’s 12. Guard Nate Kingz, sidelined last year with a knee injury, is shooting nearly 50% on 3-pointers and averaging 11.4 points. Liutauras Lelevicius, a 6-7 wing from Lithuania, chips in 8.7 points and 38.6% shooting on 3s.
The transfer portal stung OSU: Tyler Bilodeau is UCLA’s leading scorer; Jordan Pope recently scored 42 points in a game for Texas; Christian Wright starts at Louisiana; Dexter Akanno (Utah State) averages 23.2 minutes; and KC Ibekwe (Washington) and Chol Marial (San Jose State) are reserves at their new programs.
But the Beavers also had success in the portal, bringing in starting center Parsa Fallah (Southern Utah) and point guard Damarco Minor (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) and reserve post Matthew Marsh (Wake Forest). Fallah is second in scoring (12.3) while Minor fills up the stat sheet (9.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists).
“It’s another big team, it’s another team that likes to post really hard,” Few said.
“Wayne comes all the way from the Mike Montgomery coaching tree and all those Montana teams, Stanford teams duck in and post you really hard and flash a guy high-low. They’ve got some nice shooters on the outside, quick little point guard.”
Defense is OSU’s strong suit. The Beavers rank 19th nationally at 63.2 points allowed per game and only six foes have scored at least 65 points.
“They mix up their defenses a lot,” Few said. “They play a lot of zone, zone to man and all that.”
Tinkle’s top priority is grounding Gonzaga’s transition game.
“Getting back is one thing, taking good shots and not turning it over really helps you build your transition defense,” he said. “In the half court, they spread you out, they’ve got shooters, guys that can attack the rim and they’re good in the low post.
“That’s what we feel our resurgence is with perimeter shooters, driving ability and scoring inside.”