The Oregon State Beavers face the Arizona Wildcats for the only time in the 2017 regular season, searching to end a nine-game skid as UA tries to build on a 14-game win streak.
Game information:
No. 5 Arizona at Oregon State
Time: 6 p.m.
Where: Gill Coliseum
On air: ESPN2; Radio on Beaver Sports Radio Network (stream here)
TV coverage: Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play), Corey Williams (analyst)
Projected starters:
Arizona (20-2, 9-0 Pac-12)
5 – Kadeem Allen, 6-3, 205, Sr. | 10.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.1 apg
2 – Kobi Simmons, 6-5, 175, Fr. | 11.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.5 apg
1 – Rawle Alkins, 6-5, 220, Fr. | 11.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.0 apg
10 – Lauri Markkanen, 7-0, 230, Fr. | 16.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 50.5 3P%
14 – Dusan Ristic, 7-0, 245, Jr. | 11.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 56.3 FG%
Oregon State (4-18, 0-9)
0 – JaQuori McLaughlin, 6-4, 185, Fr. | 11.5 ppg, 2.8 apg, 41.7 3P%
1 – Stephen Thompson Jr., 6-4, 175, So. | 17.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.4 apg
24 – Kendal Manuel, 6-4, 180, R-Fr. | 7.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.6 apg
12 – Drew Eubanks, 6-10, 250, So. | 14.9 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.4 bpg
23 – Gligorije Rakocevic, 6-11, 255, So. | 2.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 14.0 mpg
Coaches: Arizona: Sean Miller, 208-63 at Arizona (8th season), 328-110 overall. Oregon State: Wayne Tinkle, 40-45 at Oregon State (3rd season), 198-136 overall.
RPI: Arizona: 6. Oregon State: 295.
KenPom rating: Arizona: 14. Oregon State: 274.
Last 10: Arizona: 10-0. Oregon State: 1-9.
Line: Arizona by 16 1/2
Previous meetings: Arizona won in the teams’ lone meeting last season, defeating the Beavers 80-63 in Tucson on Jan. 30. OSU won 58-56 at the last meeting in Corvallis on Jan. 11, 2015.
The Wildcats lead the all-time series 60-21 but have lost as a ranked team to unraked OSU five times since 1999.
Injury report: Oregon State sophomore forward Tres Tinkle (20.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg) has missed the Beavers’ last 16 games with a broken wrist. Senior center Cheikh N’diaye (3.6 ppg) has been out for 13 games with a shoulder injury. Both are out Thursday.
Preview: On paper, Thursday evening looks like the biggest mismatch on the Pac-12 slate.
Oregon State is the lone Pac-12 team still looking for a conference win, while Arizona is the last remaining undefeated school in search of its third league title in four years.
The Beavers have dropped nine games in a row, yet showed offensive signs of improvement last week in losses to Colorado and Utah. JaQuori McLaughlin, Stephen Thompson Jr. and Drew Eubanks each put together at least one of their best offensive performances over the past two games.
Thompson is now third in the Pac-12 in scoring in conference play with 19.3 points per game after his career-high 30-point effort at Utah. McLaughlin had 22 points, six assists and no turnovers in the same game and Eubanks – who dealt with double teams throughout the Utah loss – had 27 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks against Colorado. The young trio combined for 80.1 percent of the Beavers’ points in the two games, during which the team shot 48.7 percent from three-point range.
“We’re going through some tough times but we’re staying together and we’re continuing to work hard knowing that we’re going to come out of it at some point,” Wayne Tinkle said.
Like most Sean Miller-led teams, Arizona is strong defensively. This season the Wildcats specialize in taking away the three-point line, holding teams to 29.5 percent from beyond the arc – ninth in the nation.
ESPN rated Arizona’s recruiting class seventh in the nation and it showed through much of the year. Five-star commit Terrence Ferguson instead elected over the summer to play in Australia, forward Ray Smith suffered a career-ending knee injury before the season and sophomore guard Allonzo Trier was suspended for the first 19 games due to a positive performance-enhancing drug test.
Yet the Wildcats have emerged with only two losses, mainly on the backs of freshmen Lauri Markkanen, Rawle Alkins and Kobi Simmons, alongside veterans Kadeem Allen, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Dusan Ristic. Markkanen’s combination of size and shooting has made him one of the nation’s most dangerous offensive threats, while Alkins, Simmons, Allen and Jackson-Cartwright are all distributors and scorers. Trier is now back and averaged 13.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists in three games off the bench.
While OSU improved on the offensive end last week, defense was a struggle. The Beavers gave up back-to-back 80-point games for the second time this season, allowing Colorado and Utah to shoot a combined 54 percent from the field.
They said it: “Our motto is always to peak at the right time. That’s what we’re telling this group. We’ve still got time in front of us to play our best basketball. That’s what we want to do when it gets to late February and March. Play your best basketball. That’s what this group’s focused on.” – Wayne Tinkle
Links:
— Danny Moran
dmoran@oregonian.com
@DannyJMoran
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