GAME NOTES: The Oregon State Beavers will play their first game under new head coach Wayne Tinkle on Friday night, as they entertain the Rice Owls in non- conference action at Gill Coliseum.

Tinkle comes to Corvallis after a successful run at Montana, where he led the Grizzlies to three NCAA Tournament appearances and as many Big Sky Conference titles in seven seasons at the helm. He takes over for Craig Robinson, who was fired last spring after too many seasons of mediocre play. Last season was another such endeavor as the Beavers had as many wins as losses (16-16). They lost eight of their last 11 games, including a 96-92 setback against Radford in the College Basketball Invitational.

Rice also has a new man patrolling the sidelines, with Mike Rhoades set to make his debut in this contest. Rhoades knows a little something about building a mid-major program up, as he served as an assistant under Shaka Smart at VCU from 2009-14. It will take some time for Rhoades to get the Owls up to the speed of Smart's Rams. Rice finished with a record of just 7-23 overall last season, marking their second straight season with a single-digit win total.

A great deal of time has passed since these teams last met. During the 1977-78 season, Oregon State claimed a 75-58 victory. Rice won the only other meeting, securing a 55-54 verdcit back during the 1956-57 campaign.

The first season in Corvallis for Tinkle is set up to be a rather difficult one, especially if he can't get the Beavers to defend better. Last season, OSU ranked last in the Pac-12 in scoring defense (75.6 ppg). Tinkle also is working from scratch essentially, with all five starters gone, including Roberto Nelson, the Pac-12's leading scorer last season (20.7 ppg). That leaves Langston Morris-Walker (4 ppg), Victor Robbins (2.9 ppg), Olaf Schaftenaar (2.2 ppg) and Cheikh N'diaye (0.8 ppg) as the most experienced players. Morris-Walker may have played at least 20 minutes in 16 games last season, but he scored in double figures only twice, scoring 11 points against both Utah and USC. Malcolm Duvivier (3.1 ppg) appeared in all 32 games and will team up with Morris-Walker in the backcourt. All in all, it is a roster that Tinkle may have to experiment with to find the right combination.

Rhoades is a bit more fortunate, as although he inherits a team that was much worse than the Beavers last season, at least his roster has some guys with starting experience. However, both of the Owls' double-digit scorers from last season (Austin Ramljak and Sean Obi) are gone. That is an alarming predicament considering the Owls were the worst scoring team in Conference USA last season, netting just 61.8 ppg on 40.3 percent shooting. Compounding the scoring issues was a lack of production on the boards, as they ranked last in rebounds (32.4 rpg) as well. Max Guercy (9.2 ppg, 3.2 apg) and Marcus Jackson (6.7 ppg, 3.2 apg) won't be much help on the glass, but they form a reasonably solid backcourt tandem. Seth Gearhart (6.8 pg, 3.4 rpg) needs to use his 6- foot-7 frame to crash the boards more effectively.

With so many question marks on both sides of this one, it is difficult to really favor either side. However, Tinkle's squad was at least competitive last season and even if there are a number of pieces to replace, the Beavers should have the upper hand at home.