The Barometer Online

Issue date: 1/6/09 Section: Sports

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

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.

Continued...

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