INDIANAPOLIS — As Oregon State has made its run in winning the Pac-12 tournament championship and two NCAA Tournament games, a central question has formed.

Where did this come from?

How did a team picked to finish last in the Pac-12, that lost in December to one of the country’s worst teams in the Portland Pilots, figure it out?

A late-season fire ignited on Oregon State’s three-game road winning streak in February. But the genesis of this surge more likely occurred on Jan. 14, when the Beavers hit bottom in a 98-64 loss to Arizona in Corvallis. That night and into the early morning hours, the OSU coach staff huddled, trying to figure how to make something of the 2020-21 season.

The conversation wasn’t always pleasant. Players were brought into the discussion the following day before practice. Things were simplified. Attitudes corrected. There was a lineup change.

Jarod Lucas made his first career start the following game against Arizona State. Since then, the Beavers haven’t looked back. Lucas has started 21 consecutive games as OSU’s shooting guard. The Beavers are 14-7 with Lucas as a starter.

There was never a question about Lucas’ primary asset, shooting from long range. But it was other intangibles that kept coach Wayne Tinkle from pulling the trigger earlier. Tinkle felt the day after the Arizona loss Lucas’ game had come far enough in other areas — defense, playing off the ball on offense — to merit an opportunity.

When Tinkle broke the news to Lucas about the promotion to start, the conversation was simple.

“He believed in me,” Lucas said.

Lucas signed at Oregon State following a star-studded high school career at Los Altos, where he set a Southern California career scoring record with 3,356 points. The 6-foot-3 guard was money from 3, making 384 during his high school career. It was more of the same as a freshman at OSU. Lucas hit 3s in spurts, and made the most dramatic one of the season, a shot from beyond the arc to help the Beavers beat Utah in a first-round Pac-12 tournament game.

But to gain Tinkle’s faith and attention, Lucas had to become more than a shooter. Lucas had to show he could offer something on the defensive end.

“In high school I averaged a lot of points. I didn’t play too much on defense,” Lucas said. “Quickly learned that at Oregon State that it’s not just offense. Coach Tinkle helped me realize that to stay on the floor, I’ve got to play hard defensively. … It wasn’t quick, it took some time, but I eventually caught on to some of the defensive concepts.”

There’s a lot to like about Lucas in Tinkle’s mind. Lucas is the team’s best 3-point shooter, so much so that he shoots better from behind the arc (.376) than on two-point shots (.366) during his OSU career. Six times this season Lucas has hit at least four 3-pointers in a game. Tinkle loves Lucas’ confidence, and his energy because it’s contagious, though there are times when the coaches need to calm him down a bit.

The tipping point was defense.

“Defensively, I told him, you’ve got to give me a reason to put you on the court when you’re not hitting shots,” Tinkle said. “He came back a little while later and said, ‘Coach, I don’t want to come out of games late in the game on the defensive end.’ I said, that’s great. Great players want to be both sides.”

Since becoming a starter, Lucas has played at least 29 minutes in every game but one. Lucas has scored in double figures in OSU’s last nine games; perhaps it’s coincidence, but during that stretch, Oregon State has won eight of nine games.

Lucas doesn’t wonder why many prominent programs didn’t come calling while he was putting up the eye-catching high school numbers. Lucas is where he wants to be.

“All you need is one coach, one university, to believe in you,” Lucas said. “All of us at Oregon State have one coach who really believes in us. I know I can say for my team that we all made the right decision.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Scott Barnes is like the rest of Oregon State’s fan base for the rest of the Beavers men’s basketball NCAA Tournament run.

The OSU athletic director will watch Saturday’s Sweet 16 game against Loyola of Chicago in Bankers Life Fieldhouse with some 350 Beaver fans who have tickets.

Barnes is no longer part in the protected bubble with the team, as he was for the first two games of the tournament. Barnes left that space when he flew to San Antonio to spend a few days with the OSU women’s team for their second-round NCAA Tournament game against South Carolina.

Which works for Barnes. Basketball has suddenly added a few items to his plate. Barnes says he’s hearing from those connected with Oregon State from far and wide, including former players and boosters who haven’t reached out in years.

“As you can imagine, hundreds of text messages,” Barnes said.

The Oregon State fan Barnes is most thinking about is Bud Ossey, the Beavers’ 101-year-old equivalent to Loyola of Chicago’s Sister Jean. Ossey, for obvious reasons, is not in Indianapolis but watches the games from his home in Tualatin. The 1943 OSU grad often calls coach Wayne Tinkle after basketball games.

Barnes believes the exposure Oregon State receives during its postseason run will show up down the road in terms of future student interest.

“We’re introducing the multitudes to our university through athletics’ door right now. That’s one of the roles we serve,” Barnes said. “A lot of prospective students that may not have even been looking our way as a prospective student to Oregon State will now.”

— The Oregonian