Men’s hoops versus Arizona in Tucson tonight

After getting off to its best start since Gary Payton was on the team, the Oregon State University men's basketball team has hit a bit of a rough patch for the last four games.

Despite going 1-3 to start Pac-12 play, the Beavers are confident they can pull it together and regain the winning form that led them to a 10-2 out-of-conference record.

"This is a process, but with each game we play I see [progress] with our guys. They're getting more and more confident in themselves," Head Coach Craig Robinson said. "They don't need me to pump them up all the time."

This weekend the Beavers travel to Arizona to take on University of Arizona on Thursday and Arizona State University on Saturday.

Last season, Arizona won the Pac-10 and reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. But gone is 2010-11 Pac-10 Player of the Year Derrick Williams, who was the second overall pick in last June's NBA Draft.

This season, the Wildcats are just hoping to compete in a conference that has no heavy favorites and could see as few as two teams hear their names called on Selection Sunday.  

Oregon State comes in as a much taller team, which, on paper, seems to give the Beavers a big advantage.  But despite their small size, Arizona has been out-rebounding their opponents by 7.2 rebounds per game.  

"They're like five guards and a small forward, and that's hard to guard when you're playing man to man. You're already taller than them except for Ahmad [Starks] in our current starting lineup," Robinson said. "They're going to be at an advantage if they decide to break us down one-on-one and take us to the basket."

Robinson stressed the importance of playing very good man-to-man defense against a small team like this but also noted that the Beavers will be playing some zone.

"We have to guard them and they have to guard us, so at some point there's going to be a meeting of the wills [and] we have to impose our will more than they impose theirs," Robinson said.

Expect a high scoring affair tonight as Oregon State is tied for fourth in the nation in points per game with 84.4 on average. Arizona and Oregon State are first and second in the conference in three-pointers made per game, respectively.

A win tonight against Arizona would be huge for a Beaver squad that is coming off a heartbreaking quadruple-overtime loss to Stanford at Gill Coliseum. A loss like that can really hurt a team's psyche, but Robinson is confident the Beavers have rebounded well.

Despite the urgency with which Oregon State needs a win, Robinson emphasized that this win is no more important than any other win.  He and the players are living by his mantra of taking the season one day at a time.

"[It's] going to be a very tough game and it's very important for us to play well," Robinson said. "Is it so important that you base the whole season on it? I don't think so. We're not at that point yet, but it's important, as is every game you play."

Alex Crawford, sports writer

sports@dailybarometer.com