Oregon State Men's Basketball Team Adds Pair from Portal

Ripped apart by transfers, Wayne Tinkle's coaching staff secured a pair of transfer commitments: French juco guard Keziah Ekissi, and Aussie forward (by way of Southern Indiana University) Stephen Olowoniyi.

Southern Indiana's Stephen Olowoniyi (12) dunks as the University of Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles play the Indiana State Sycamores at Liberty Arena in Evansville, Ind., Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. | MaCabe Brown / Courier & Press / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Wayne Tinkle is no stranger to the transfer portal.

Before this season's great exodus - starters Michael Rataj, Damarco Minor, Nate Kingz, Parsa Fallah, and Liutauras Lelevicius entered the portal - Wayne Tinkle used the transfer portal to bring all but one of those names, Rataj, to Corvallis.

Desperate to fill their barren roster with fresh talent, Tinkle and his staff leaned on the portal once again. This week they've secured commitments from junior college transfer guard Keziah Ekissi, and Southern Indiana transfer forward Stephen Olowoniyi.

Ekissi hails from Saintes-Maries-De-La-Mer, a beautiful French village on the Mediterranean that once inspired several Van Gogh paintings. The 6'3" guard just finished his true freshman season at Howard College, a junior college in West Texas. After starting 27 games and averaging 12.3 PPG with a 45.2 FG% and an unreal 42.9 3PT%, Ekissi earned high praise: JucoRecruiting.com named him the 6th highest ranked Juco recruit in the nation.

Before coming stateside, the versatile French guard suited up for several clubs in his homeland, most notably winning a U21 French national championship with Cholet in their 2022-23 season.

Stephen Olowoniyi was born in Melbourne, on the far south-eastern coast of Australia. After moving to the United States in his youth, he played high school basketball at The Webb School in Tennessee, a prestigious boarding school that regularly competes for Tennessee state championships.

After earning all-state honors in an illustrious prep career that featured over 1000 points scored, Olowoniyi signed with the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). During his true freshman season, the talented forward averaged 7.7 points and 5.3 rebounds, while shooting a red hot 55.0 FG%.

Ahead of the 2024-25 season, Olowoniyi transferred to Southern Indiana University. He appeared in all 30 of their games, and started 29 times. He tallied 6 double-doubles during the season, and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game. He averaged 13.9 PPG on a blistering 59.1 FG%. The 6'8" Australian forward will enter Oregon State with two years of eligibility.