Oregon State and Stanford are both coming off losses. The Beavers; a three point loss to Cal, and the Cardinal; a seven point loss to the #9 Ducks.Stanford packs a punch on offense. The Lopez twins are already proving to be dangerous at both ends of the court. Against the Ducks on Thursday, Robin (seen right) had 10 points and 7 Rebounds, and Brook had 6 points and 6 rebounds. They're both 7 feet tall. They are accompanied by sophomore Lawrence Hill, who has emerged as a their leading scorer. He put up 13 against the Ducks, just shy of his season average of 14.9.
Brook has only started a handful of games this year. Stanford coach Trent Johnson usually opts to go with a somewhat smaller starting lineup consisting of Robin Lopez, Lawrence Hill, Fred Washington, Mitch Johnson and Anthony Goods.
Stanford isn't a particularly good shooting team, (44.8%) ranked 189th, but Oregon State definitely isn't either. The Beavers shoot 47.8 percent, and find themselves ranked 239th in that category nationally. Both teams are bad from behind the arc, lingering at right around 30% each. Anthony Goods is the Cardinal most likely to launch trey-balls as he's taken nearly half of Stanford's three pointers this season. He's a 35% shooter from behind the arc.
Free throws are where Oregon State has struggled all year. The good news? Stanford is a bad foul shooting team as well. The Beavers shoot 63%, and Stanford shoots 64%. When Stanford played Cal, they went 18 of 29 (62.1) from the line. They missed 11 free throws compared to the 2 that the Bears missed. They ended up only losing the game by 5. The exact same thing happened to Oregon State when they played Cal on Thursday night. The Beavers shot 12 of 22 from the line against the Bears, and ended up only losing by 3.
All stats considered, the Cardinal and the Beavers are very even. They even play at close to the same pace, with Oregon State averaging one more possession per game than Stanford does. Stanford will have a height advantage, with the 7-0 twins, as well as a few more players off the bench coming near 7 feet. Oregon State does have height in Kyle Jeffers, along with Sasa Cuic, as well as Roeland Schaftenaar and Calvin Hampton off the bench.
Join me in discussing the game as it happens in the open thread above.
Go Beavers!
--JB--
Photo Credit: (Marcio Jose Sanchez/ AP)