California at Oregon St. Game Thread

California (12-3, 2-0) at Oregon St. (10-4, 0-2) at 7 PM PST at Gill Coliseum / No TV / KEJO 1240 AM / KPAM 860 (Streamed)

Oregon St. opens their Pac-12 home schedule against California, who is making their first road trip of the the Conference season.

The Beavers lost both of their opening weekend games in the state of Washington, falling behind early and then seeing a rally fall short in each outing.

Washington's Tony Wroten ripped up Oregon St. for 26 points in the teams' conference opener, which launched him toward being named the Pac-12 Player of the Week. And though the Beavers got back within 3 points on Ahmad Starks' 3 pointer, but the Huskies ran off 12 unanswered points to claim the 95-80 win. A half dozen Huskies were in double figures against the Beavers. Joe Burton led Oregon St., with 18 points, and Angus Brandt was right behind him, with 16.

Saturday in Spokane, Oregon St. again got off to a slow start, and couldn't control Washington St.'s Brock Motum, who hung a game high 26 points on the Beavers. DaVonte Lacy's hot shooting piled another 18 points on for the Cougars.

And the Cougars confused Oregon St. for much of the game with an unexpected dose of zone defense. As a result, multiple rallies fell short, and the Cougars edged the Beavers 81-76.

Jared Cunningham led Oregon St., with 18 points, and Starks sank 5 three pointers, on his way to an 18 point effort.

The Golden Bears, preseason favorites to win the first Pac-12 campaign, beat both of the LA schools on opening weekend to claim one of three shares of the conference lead.

Allen Crabbe converted 2 free throws with 8.4 seconds left to finally put USC away, in a game the Golden Bears won 53-49, after surviving a 17 point performance by the Trojans' Maurice "Mojo" Jones in their conference opener.

California had much less trouble with UCLA, as all 5 starters were in double figures, led by Crabbe's 20 points, as well as Robert Thurman's 11 points off the bench. Thurman hit all 5 shots he took in just 13 minutes of action. The Bears' balance easily overcame the Bruins, who got a game high 26 points from Tyer Lamb, and a combined 25 points from the Wear twins, but only 18 from the rest of their program.

California leads the series against Oregon St. 77-60, but the Beavers have a 29-26 advantage in games in Gill Coliseum. The Golden Bears swept last year's series, mauling the Beavers 85-57 in Berkeley, and then clawed their way back after trailing by double digits at 8 different times in the first half to spoil the Beavers' senior day, claiming an 87-76 win.

There will be no television or other video feed of any kind of the game, which is a scenario that is simply beyond any reasonable explanation. Where is Beaver Nation Online? "The game will not be televised or have live video due to Pac-12 Conference regulations," according to an Oregon St. release. Really? There is a conference regulation that prohibits showing a game no television partner wants any part of? It's unimaginable how bad the contracts and regulations adopted under Tom Hansen actually are, and unconscionable that such regulations haven't been rescinded.

Its another major black eye for the conference, already nationally regarded as borderline irrelevant nationally on many levels. The Pac-12 network can not get here, or get picked up for carriage, too soon.

If you are listening on the radio, and trying to visualize what you can't see if you aren't at Gill, here's the place to describe what you are imagining.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com