Washington St. (12-11, 4-7) at Oregon St. (15-8, 5-6) at Gill Coliseum at 7:00 PM PST / No TV (Again) / KEJO 1240 AM / KPAM 860 AM (Streamed - Enjoy it while you can)

Oregon St. returns home after 3 games in 7 days on the road, having won 2 of them.

The Cougars come into Corvallis after what would be a heart-breaking 63-60 loss to UCLA, except they are so used to being beaten by the Bruins. Saturday's loss was Washington St.'s 19th straight at home against the Bruins. That's a mind numbing number.

UCLA didn't score from the field in the last 5 1/2 minutes in Pullman, but the Bruins made 7 free throws to thwart the Cougars, and negate Brock Motum's 25 point, 11 rebound double double, both game highs.

The Beavers bounced back from a bad outing in Boulder to beat Utah 76-58 in Salt Lake City last Saturday. Jared Cunningham had a game high 20 points, but Joe Burton's overall effort, 11 rebounds, 8 points, 5 assists, and a game high 6 steals, drove the win over the Utes.

The 18 point win was Oregon St.'s largest margin of victory in a conference game since a 20 point win in 1990, ironically over Washington St..

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New Year's Eve in Spokane seems a lot longer ago than just over a month ago, and a lot has happened, basketball and otherwise, since we last caught up with the guys up in the Palouse. So it we got together with Jeff Nusser, the authority on all things Cougars, at least the crimson ones, up at CougCenter.com to exchange questions, and get an update before the Cougs and Beavs hook up again tonight.

Here's our answers to the Coug's questions.

Did the season go south when Faisal Aden tore his ACL? Or can the Cougs pull things back together? How will Washington St. finish the Pac-12 season?

Well, the season was already heading south with Aden -- that is, until, he went off for 57 points on 29 shots to fuel a home sweep of Stanford and Cal. That was uncharacteristically efficient of him, as Aden could previously have been characterized as a high-usage chucker. But in those games, he was aggressive to the basket, and fans wondered if he might be turning over a new leaf -- an efficient scorer from the perimeter is something this team was sorely lacking, and surely would have made a difference. But then the injury happen, and it all became moot.

I think we believe there's still enough talent on the perimeter to replace Aden -- Reggie Moore is capable of more than he shows most nights, and Mike Ladd has shown flashes of being pretty good as he returns from injury -- but it's a guessing game at this point. As for how they'll finish? Honestly, I expect something along the lines of 2-5 the rest of the way in conference.

Who can help Brock Motum with the scoring?

Can DaVonte Lacy become a reliable scorer?As I intimated in the previous response, there probably isn't a singular guy on the roster who can compliment Motum, so it's probably going to have to come from a committee. Lacy will be a part of that, but Moore would actually seem to be the best candidate to complement Motum. Unfortunately, he has chosen to become a facilitator, despite a demonstrated ability to get into the lane and to the line.

Honestly, this team's best chance of winning on any given night is Motum scoring 35.

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Final Score: Oregon St. 76 Utah 58

In case you missed it, and given the absence of tv coverage, chances are you did, Oregon St. bounced back from a bad outing Thursday at Colorado to take a wire to wire 76-58 win over Utah Saturday afternoon at the Huntsman Center in Sale Lake City.

It took 2/3s of the first half for the Beavers to open their first double digit lead, a 25-15 advantage off a Devon Collier dunk, and they had to withstand a bit of an uprising after halftime, when the persistent Utes cut the deficit to single digits on 4 different occasions. But back to back baskets by Jared Cunningham put Oregon St. ahead 50-37 with just over 13 minutes left, and Utah never threatened again.

Cunningham led all scorers, with 20 points, but the story was that Oregon St. won with their front-court, not their guard play. Collier had 14 points, and Joe Burton and Angus Brandt combined for another 14, and Kevin McShane chipped in 7 points, his career best. The front court production was a particularly good thing for the Beavers, given that Ahmad Starks struggled somewhat again at altitude, and Roberto Nelson wasn't particularly productive either.

Starks scored 6 points, better than in Boulder, and Nelson 5, but neither figured nearly as prominently in the outcome as is usually the case for Oregon St.

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Oregon St. (14-8, 4-6) at Utah (5-17, 2-8) at the Jon M. Huntsman Center at 3:00 PM MST (2 PM PST) / No TV / KEJO 1240 AM / KPAM 860 AM (Streamed)

Oregon St. concludes their trip to the Rocky Mountains with a stop off in Salt Lake City to take on Utah.

The Beavers saw Colorado get away from them in the latter stages of the first half, and the Buffs led by double digits the rest of the game, eventually winning 82-60. Oregon St. shot poorly from the perimeter against the best defensive team in the conference, but also got out run by the Buffs offensively.

Jared Cunningham and Devon Collier co-led Oregon St., with 12 points apiece, and Roberto Nelson came off the bench to add 10, mostly from the free throw line. But the balanced Buffs had 5 players who scored from 10 to 16 points. Further, Colorado dominated on the boards, getting a dozen more than Oregon St. did. As a result, the Beavers had their 3 game winning streak snapped, and dropped into a tie with Washington St. for 8th. place in the conference.

The Utes saw an upset opportunity get away when Oregon went on an 11-0 run over 5 minutes that erased Utah's last lead, and turned it into a double digit 69-59 Duck advantage with a minute to go. Nothing really changed after that except the stats, and Oregon claimed a 79-68 win. It was the third consecutive loss for Utah, which lowered them into 11th. place in the Pac-12.

Chris Hines had a co-game high 20 point effort for Utah, tied with Oregon's Devoe Joseph, and Cedric Martin contributed 15. The telling stat for the game was Utah's shooting percentage from the field falling way off after halftime, while Oregon was improving their accuracy.

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Whether you are talking about the transfers, injuries and suspensions of important players, and just the overall lack of talent to begin with, there is virtually no doubt in anyone's mind that Utah is one of the worst high major teams in the country, at least for this season. Most Utah fans are OK with giving a grace period for new coach Larry Krystkowiak, considering the roster turmoil that started well before the season, but it doesn't make their brand of basketball any easier to watch. Ladies and gentlemen and les autres, your Utah Utes after the jump.

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Like Colorado, Utah is a new and relative unknown quantity in the Pac-12. Beaver Nation at least got to know the Utes, Salt Lake City, and even Sean "JazzyUte" over at BlockU.com during football season, but we thought we would get an update from Sean before the Beavers' visit to the Huntsman Center (its that domed building that's next to Rice-Ecles Stadium).

Utah is struggling this year, and everyone expected that to some degree, given the player turnover and the coaching change. But the Utes do already have more wins, 5, than many thought they would get, including a pair of Pac-12 wins. When they win, they have been able to really hold opponets' scoring in check. What's made the difference? Can it be duplicated against an athletic team like Oregon St. that wants to push the tempo?

I really don't know what's been the difference. I think if that was known, they'd apply it more in other games. I guess you could say the common factor in all those wins is that they came at home and I guess, even if we have no fans showing up to games, there is some home court advantage there. I'm sure it's also a bit of luck, or bad luck, if you will, from the opposing team. Arizona State was without its best player and Utah shot phenomenally - while in other wins, the free throw shooting by the opposition has been down right awful.

Ultimately, I think it just takes the perfect storm for the Utes to win: a home game against a team that shoots poorly, might be without its star player and can't hit from the free throw line. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's glorious!

Of course, it doesn't hurt when your players actually, you know, play.

"Jiggy" Watkins was the Utes' leading scorer, and seemed to be their best offensive option by a large margin. What's the story around his dismissal? Was it ultimately a good thing, or did it finish off the season for the Utes?

No one knows the whole story and I don't know if we ever will. He was suspended earlier in the season for showing up to practice late and I can only assume it has something to do with that. Krystkowiak runs a tight ship and it doesn't seem like he's too keen on giving players a third chance. If you mess up twice, you're done - even if you are the best player.

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Final Score: Colorado 82 Oregon St. 60

It might be just as well for Beaver Nation that there was no tv and there were Internet issues that kept the game thread unavailable much of the night, as there was little good from the Oregon St. point of view about the game.

Colorado pushed the pace all night, and they made shots. Oregon St. couldn't stop the Buffs, and the Beavers couldn't make a shot for long periods of time. After a little while, that became the recipe for a blowout.

It took almost 2 minutes for Oregon St. to score, but Colorado didn't open much of a lead. The Beavers took their first lead on a Jared Cunningham 3 pointer 2 and a half minutes into the game, and held the lead for the next 3 and a half minutes.

Even after the Buffs regained the lead, a result of a 3 minute Beaver scoring drought, Oregon St. stayed close for the next 10 minutes. But the next of what would be a series of scoring droughts allowed Colorado to begin to pull away.

Oregon St. went over 6 minutes with only a pair of baskets, by Joe Burton and Eric Moreland, and found themselves down 13 points. Another drought going into the half saw Colorado move ahead to a 46-31 advantage at the break.

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Oregon St. (14-7, 4-5) at Colorado (14-7, 6-3) at the Coors Event Center at 7:00 PM MST (6 PM PST) / No TV / KEJO 1240 AM / KPAM 860 AM (Streamed)

Oregon St. makes their first visit to Boulder for a Pac-12 event. The Beavers and the Buffs did meet the last 2 seasons in non-conference games as a part of the Pac-10-Big XII Hardwood Challenge.

The Beavers are rolling, having followed up a sweep of the LA schools with a come from behind 76-71 win at Matt Court over Oregon Sunday afternoon in the season's first Civil War battle. Jared Cunningham earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors after scoring 24 of his game high 27 points in the second half. Ahmad Starks added 15 points for the Beavers, as he and Cunningham combined to hit 7 of 14 3 pointers.

The Buffs, who are a smallish team that uses a 3 guard attack, and start 6'9" senior Austin Dufault and 6'7" soph. Andre Roberson as their front court, ran into the 6'10" Wear twins their last time out, and as a result lost 77-60 to the Bruins. Before that, Colorado had run off 3 straight wins, and are 11-1 at the Coors Event Center.

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