• Oregon State at UW, 8 p.m., FSN
Technically, Oregon State’s visit to Washington tonight is a rematch.
The teams played Jan. 17 in Corvallis, Ore., and now they’re meeting again at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
However, coach Lorenzo Romar and his Huskies prefer to consider this a fresh look at a team that has improved since being mauled by UW, 85-59, four weeks ago.
“They are definitely playing with more confidence,” Romar said. “What you’re looking at is a new system being implemented and a whole new culture being implemented. It’s not just the way they play basketball, it’s the way they do things – period – on and off the floor. You can see that as time goes on, that fruit is starting to ripen a little bit.”
The architect of that new culture – first-year OSU coach Craig Robinson – said the hard lesson the Beavers learned in the first game against Washington has contributed to his team’s recent growth.
“You’re always unhappy when you lose, but we had up until that point typically played better than we did against Washington,” Robinson said this week. “I just wasn’t happy with our effort, our brain power in that game, our execution. There were a lot of things to be upset about; and sure, did I point out those things? Absolutely. And was my point heard.”
Apparently so. After that loss to UW, Oregon State ran off a four-game winning streak. The Beavers began by sweeping their Bay Area trip for the first time since 1992-93. Then they won an out-of-conference game against Cal State Bakersfield and their rivalry game against Oregon.
The Beavers were swept at home last week by the Arizona schools – starting with a three-point loss to the Arizona Wildcats – but even in defeat they seemed to be playing better.
Of course, almost anything would have been better than their earlier performance against Washington.
If a 26-point loss in their home gym wasn’t enough, the Beavers also were outrebounded, 46-19. They were outshot, 59 percent to 39 percent. And they allowed UW to hit 22 of 33 shots (67 percent) in the second half.
“We didn’t keep (UW) off the boards,” Robinson said. “(UW) just absolutely killed us on the boards, and we didn’t have the chance to do the kinds of things that we wanted to do on offense. We’ve since tried to work on that. We really needed to shore up our defensive rebounding as well as making sure that we dictated what we wanted to do, not have other teams dictate what we wanted to do.”
Since that UW game, Oregon State senior guard Ricky Claitt has 22 assists and three turnovers over the past six games while averaging 37.7 minutes per game. He also has hit 18 of 30 shots (.600) over that period. Over the past four games, Oregon State has allowed an average of 54.5 points.
Rebounding continues to be a problem – the Beavers rank last in the Pacific-10 Conference with a margin of minus-6.1 – but the embarrassment of the UW game hasn’t been repeated.
Two games into the second round of Pac-10 play, the Huskies have duplicated the results of the first meeting: following a home loss to California with a road loss, following a home win over Stanford with a road win.
However, Romar and his veteran players want to guard against any assumption that the first Oregon State result will be easily repeated.
“There is a danger (of young players thinking that),” senior Jon Brockman said. “But I think this group will be fine. I think they understand exactly what it is we had to do to win the way we did on the road. We’ll really attack that. We’ll be all right.”
Don Ruiz, 253-597-8808
blogs.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
UW MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY
Oregon State (10-12 overall, 4-7 Pac-10) at Washington (17-6, 8-3)
Tipoff: 8 p.m., Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
TV: FSN. Radio: 950-AM.
Series: UW leads 148-136 overall and 98-40 in Seattle. The Huskies have won three straight, including the first meeting this season, 85-59, in Corvallis, Ore.
Statistical leaders: For OSU, G Calvin Haynes, 15.1 ppg; G/F Seth Tarver, 5 rpg; F/C Roeland Schaftenaar, 3.3 apg. For UW, G Isaiah Thomas, 16.5 ppg and 2.7 apg; F Jon Brockman, 11.1 rpg.
Scouting report: UW continues to lead the Pac-10 in offense (79.4 ppg) and rebounding margin (plus-9.6, third nationally). … Oregon State has allowed an average of 54.5 points a game the past four. … OSU is last in the league in free-throw percentage (.624), defensive rebounds and blocked shots. … Individually, OSU senior guard Ricky Claitt is third in 3-point field goal accuracy (.480). No Beavers player except Haynes has a scoring average in double-digits. … Isaiah Thomas, who leads UW in scoring, has scored in double digits 16 games in a row.
Next: Noon Saturday, vs. Oregon, Hec Edmundson Pavilion; FSN.
Don Ruiz, The News Tribune
