Beavs’ look to avenge earlier loss to WSU

The ball is in the Beavers' court to close the regular season out with a bang.

Five of their final seven games are at home — where they have a 10-2 record — and they have been on somewhat of a roll lately, winning four of their last five.

Regardless of these favorable conditions, Oregon State (15-8, 5-6 Pac-12) still has an obstacle to overcome tonight in the form of Washington State University.

The Beavers lost to the Cougars 81-76 earlier this season, but Head Coach Craig Robinson and the rest of the squad expect a different game this time around.

"I would say we're a lot different both offensively and defensively," Robinson said. "I think that from a defensive standpoint we are playing better defense now. We, finally, are starting to understand you need to focus on defense no matter how many points you can score in a game."

Unfortunately for the Cougars (12-11, 4-7), they will be without senior guard Faisal Aden, who's second on the team in scoring. Aden tore his ACL in his left knee on Jan. 26 in the Cougars' loss to the University of Arizona. Although Aden only had one point the last time these two teams met, he was averaging 14.5 points per game this season and had earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors just one week before injuring his knee.

Even with Aden out of the Cougars' lineup, the Beavers will have their hands full with Wazzou big man Brock Motum. In the New Years Eve game, Motum had 26 points and eight rebounds.

"I feel like our frontcourt is long enough and athletic enough to guard him. We just have to do it," Robinson said. "I didn't think we executed it well when we played them the first time and he got off to a really fast start and was playing at home with a lot of confidence and had a great game. We can't let him do that on Thursday."

The Beavers outside shooters, namely Ahmad Starks and Roberto Nelson, are going to need to get out of their slumps to help the Beavs win this one. Starks and Nelson have shot a combined 6-for-31 (19.3 percent) in their last two games.

"Unfortunately, I'm in a slump right now and I don't think this is gonna last for too much longer," sophomore guard Roberto Nelson said.  "It's more of a confidence thing for me and I'm trying not to get too down on myself and hang my head so I'm just trying to take each shot and go into each game with more confidence and just try to build from it."

The Beavers' "One Day At A Time" mantra has become so prevalent that shirts reading "ODAAT" are currently on-sale in the campus bookstore. Despite the commitment to this edict, it is well known that the Beavers have hopes for a NIT berth if not a trip to the "Big Dance." Closing out conference play strong is crucial if they want to make a relevant postseason tourney and the Beavers believe they can do it.

"When we started the Pac-12 season we thought we could beat anybody on any given night," Robinson said. "I think now that we've been through the league halfway and played everyone, I think our team knows that they can beat anybody on any night. We have to use that confidence to our advantage, especially when we're playing here."

Alex Crawford, sports writer

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