On the road, it’s 13 and counting

To say that the Oregon State University men's basketball team has struggled on the road recently is like saying the Clippers benefited from signing Chris Paul.

It's like saying Ryan Gosling is a heartthrob and the cast of Jersey Shore likes to frequent the tanning salon.

Simply put, it's an understatement.

The Beavers have not won a conference road game since defeating USC 49-44 in Los Angeles, Calif. on Feb. 27, 2010.

Since that win, they've lost 13 straight.

In fact, only four of the 15 players currently on Oregon State's roster have won a conference game. Devon Collier, Ahmad Starks, Roberto Nelson and Eric Moreland are among the key contributors who have yet to win a game in Tucson, Seattle, Los Angeles, or any other Pac-12 city.

When coach Craig Robinson was informed of this stat, he was surprised. But in typical Robinson fashion, he was quick to put a positive spin on it.

"Now that you've pointed [that stat] out, that's a good motivator," Robinson said.

Motivation aside, what is it going to take for Oregon State to actually win some conference road games this season?

"Getting your first road win," Robinson said. "Once you realize that you can win on the road, then it becomes easier to win on the road."

The Pac-12 has struggled as a whole with road wins this season.  Home teams are 33-11 on the season in conference play and five teams — OSU, USC, Utah, Washington State and Colorado — are still seeking their first road victory.

Oregon State needs to start winning road games this year if they want to even be considered for the NCAA Tournament.

To Robinson's credit, the team has at least been improving at home over the last couple seasons. In the 2009-10 season and last season, they were 5-4 at home in conference play. This year they are 3-1 in Pac-12 at home and 10-2 overall.

"I think that the better you are, the harder it is for you to win on the road because you become a target for people," Robinson said. "See before, when we first got here, we snuck up on everybody because they didn't really plan for us. It doesn't surprise me that it's harder to win on the road, because now we go on the road and everybody's pumped up to play us because we're not bad."

If Robinson wants to bring legitimacy to the Oregon State program, consistent road wins are a must. Still, the Beavers' road woes do not mean that they can't make it to the "Big Dance" or, at the very least, have a successful season. Last year the combined overall road record of the Pac-10 teams that made the tournament was 22-23 (.488) and in 2009-10 it was 10-12 (.455).

Sophomore big man Devon Collier cites energy as the Beavers' biggest need in order to fix their troubles on the road.

"Generating our own energy and coming out with a fast start from the jump [is what it's going to take]," Collier said.  "So, if we have energy from the start, our bench is loud, on the court we're talking to each other, we're focused — that'll get us going to a good start and we can carry it through the whole game."

Oregon State will try to get the monkey off its back with their biggest road match-up to date on Sunday at the University of Oregon.

Alex Crawford, sports writer

sports@dailybarometer.com