Coming off a stunning loss to USC and bounce-back win against No. 18 UCLA, Oregon State will aim to keep pace in the Pac-12 title chase on its final regular-season road trip that begins Friday night at Colorado.
The No. 11 Beavers enter Friday tied with No. 9 Washington and a half-game behind No. 10 Stanford for the Pac-12 lead. Stanford beat rival California in Berkeley Thursday night.
After rising as high as No. 15 in the national polls during nonconfernce play, the Buffaloes have struggled during the Pac-12 slate. But they’re coming off a weekend where they led at Stanford in the third quarter in an eventual 64-51 defeat and then beat Cal 64-59.
“That’s a dangerous team,” Beavers coach Scott Rueck said. “They’ve got a good belief to them. You can see it.”
Colorado leads the Pac-12 in steals (11.64 per game), which could test an OSU offense that has committed at least 19 turnovers in its past three games. Sophomore guard Kennedy Leonard is tied for first in the Pac-12 in that category (2.56 steals per game) and ranks third in the league in assists (5.72 per game) and fifth in scoring (17.8 points per game).
Sydney Wiese, meanwhile, ranks fifth nationally in three-point field-goal percentage (46.5) while averaging 15.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.
And, as usual, Rueck said the biggest key for the Beavers will be its normally airtight defense that let down against USC but leads the Pac-12 in points allowed (55.2 per game) and ranks eighth nationally in opponent field-goal percentage (34.5).
“We can’t let up with our intensity on the defensive end at all,” he said. “That, I think, doesn’t really need to be said. I think it’s obvious. But it’s absolutely a factor.”
What: No. 11 Oregon State Beavers (23-3, 12-2 Pac-12) at Colorado (14-11, 4-10 Pac-12)
When: 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17
Where: Coors Events Center, Boulder, Colorado
TV channel: Pac-12 Networks
Radio: KEJO 1240 in Corvallis; TuneIn
Live stream: Pac-12.com/live
Series history: OSU is 6-5 all-time against Colorado, including an 81-57 victory in Corvallis on Jan. 22. The Buffaloes have not topped the Beavers since an upset in the 2014 Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals.
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