Sophomore guard Calvin Haynes has posted double-digit points in all six games he has played in for Oregon State.

Oregon State looks to build on first Pac-10 win

Beavers begin Craig Robinson's era with 1-1 Pac-10 opening weekend after splitting with Los Angeles schools

By: Terry Horstman

Posted: 1/6/09

Another Pac-10 basketball season is upon us, and much to the surprise of Beaver Nation, head coach Craig Robinson picked up his first conference victory in just the first weekend of conference play by beating USC in overtime on Sunday with a final score of 62-58.

However, the win against USC is not the first sign of light we've seen from the 08-09 men's basketball team. After getting off to a slow 1-5 start, the Beavers have won five of their last six games to find themselves sitting at .500 and have already gotten the Pac-10 monkey off their backs.

"We're no longer the same team we were last year in the Pac-10," Calvin Haynes said after the win against USC. "We can play with anybody, and we know that. Today was just the day that we showed everybody in the world that we can execute down the stretch of a big game and get it done, and it's going to be like that for the rest of the season."

Haynes has been one of the bigger reasons for the Beavers success as of late. After not playing in the first six games of the season for academic reasons, the sophomore guard has made a huge impact on the court for the Beavers averaging 17.8 points per game as the team has gone 5-1 since Haynes has returned to the court.

"I hope teams don't sleep on us," Haynes said. "Because if they do, this is what's going to happen every single time."

After picking up that first conference win, it's almost certain that Oregon State is on the radar. The rest of the Pac-10 won't be sleeping when the Beavers roll into town, so it won't be getting any easier for the team. Still, only 12 games into his first season, Craig Robinson has made a bigger impact than most seemed to expect and has also held true on the lofty expectations he brought to Corvallis with no implications of looking back.

"Initially, we didn't know how to come from behind; initially, we didn't know how to keep a lead, and we have gotten better at all of these different things." head coach Craig Robinson said.

The early season results don't lie, the Beavers have improved in all aspects of the game, and when asked the reason for the early season success, there is no hesitation as to where the credit goes.

"Two words: coaching change," Haynes said. "What else can you say? Coach Robinson's a really great coach. He knows what he's talking about. He's played the game before. He just knows what he's doing to put each and every one of us in an opportunity to succeed on the court."

Haynes is just one of the examples of success since Robinson came to OSU; Haynes has been the leading scorer for the past six games after averaging just 5.5 points per game last year as a freshman, and the success certainly doesn't stop there.

Fellow sophomore Omari Johnson has built upon his freshman season to become a reliable post threat for the Beavers. Johnson has started in every game since late November and is averaging close to 11 points and six boards per game.

Another player who has stepped up big is Roeland Schaftenaar. After being blanked the previous two games, the junior forward from the Netherlands showed great resilience against USC by scoring 18 points and hitting the game-tying 3-pointer to send the game into the extra session.

So with just one weekend of conference play in the books, the Beavers have already accomplished one of their goals of being better than they were last year. However, Oregon State no longer has the label of an easy-out, and it only gets harder as the Beavers travel to Tempe to take on the 20th ranked Arizona State Sun Devils on Thursday. It is now pretty apparent that the Sun Devils along with the rest of the Pac-10 are not going to overlook the Beavers anymore.

Terry Horstman, sports writer
sports@dailybarometer.com