Josh Tarver gives OSU offensive direction in nonconference victory

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

Josh Tarver has slowly become the leader of the Oregon State men’s basketball team, and he’s only 12 games into his career.

The redshirt freshman point guard delivered another strong performance Tuesday night in an 84-67 nonconference victory over Howard before a crowd of 2,877 in Gill Coliseum.

Tarver scored 16 points, led the Beavers (7-5) in rebounds with six and handed out four assists in 32 minutes. He tied his career high in points and reached a new level in assists.

“Josh was very comfortable today,” coach Jay John said. “It was a wonderful stat line. He did a good job of leading the team. When we took him out, we got sloppy with the ball. Obviously, it’s not the same level of execution when he’s out. He’s good and he keeps getting better.”

His play went beyond the numbers; he managed the game for whoever was around him. Three others reached double digits, led by Sasa Cuic with 18 points. Jack McGillis continued his improvement, scoring 11.

Tarver and John weren’t happy about his four turnovers, or the five by shooting guard Wesley Washington. The team topped its average of 14 turnovers a game with 17.

“It was OK for me,” Tarver said. “There’s always improvement, and I can get better doing a couple of things, offensively and defensively. We’ve been working on our offense for a while now. And we ran it pretty good tonight. A lot of people were getting open. Shots were falling. Everything is coming together.”

John wants at least a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio from his point guard, while Tarver says two turnovers is his limit for success.

“He just needs to read better,” John said. “Most of his turnovers are from judgment.”

Beyond that slight issue, Tarver was a solid 6-for-9 in field goals and 3-for-4 on 3-pointers.

There was also a focus on the defensive rebounding part of his game.

“I’m not trying to be in a hurry,” Tarver said. “In the beginning my turnovers were from being in a hurry. I threw the ball up, and I didn’t know personnel. Now I’m getting a better feel for it. I’m trying to keep my turnovers down, and I was trying to get rebounds. Coach has been getting on me for getting defensive rebounds. The point guard should be the leader because my man is trying to get back on defense.”

The offense ran smooth, with plays working the way they were scripted. The Beavers led from the beginning and never trailed in a game they scored a season-high and shot a season-best 56 percent.

Howard (5-6) kept the game close in the first half because of the points off turnovers. However, the Bison didn’t score another point that way in the second half.

“We did some good things tonight, and there were some things in the first half where our resolve to win each possession 2-0 wasn’t quite where it needs to be,” John said. “Defensively, they shot the ball better than LSU (on Sunday), so we weren’t defending well enough.”

All of the Beavers on the active roster played, except for Calvin Hampton. He banged his left knee in practice on Monday. It didn’t bother him then, but he was in enough pain Tuesday to keep him out of the game.