Usually I live by a "act like you've been there before" mentality, but can you believe it, Beaver Nation?
CR has insisted that this team "do things right" ever since he arrived on campus. It payed off with a solid road win at Fresno State, a gritty home win against Nebraska, and now, our first Pac-10 win in 21 games. Craig Robinson is .500 all-time in the Pac-10.
If you haven't already, go here for The VD Special's thoughts from Gill.
And if you're just joining us, check out the game preview, open thread, and the celebration open thread.
The Beavers rallied from 15 points back in the second half of Sunday's game to do something an Oregon State squad hasn't done since February 22, 2007... beat a Pac-10 team. The Beavers have had 23 attempts since then when you count Pac-10 tournament games, and the y've come oh-so-close on so many occasions.
But never, have they battled back and finished like they did on Sunday. The Beavers simply wouldn't go away.
Roeland Schaftenaar played the game of his Oregon State career, and had one of the most impressive statlines a big man could have: 18 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists,, 1 turnover, 1 block, and 3 steals in 40 of 45 minutes.
Prior to the game, Roeland had been averaging six points and trace amounts of rebounds and assits per game. He had surpassed those marks by halftime.
Just two games ago, against Seattle U, Roeland had zero points and five turnovers in eleven minutes.
It was Roeland who sent the game to overtime with a three-pointer with 0:04 left on the game clock.
Calvin Haynes, who The VD Special described as "our Brandon Roy" was hot in the second half. He had 16 points in the game, and 14 came in the second half.
"At the end of the second half, and into overtime, they were keying on Calvin." CR said after the game. "Calvin was very unselfish finding the right guys, the open guys, and then those guys knocked the shots down."
Calvin ended up 7 of 12 from the field, and had four assists, two turnovers, and a steal.
When you combine Roeland and Calvin's stats, you get: 34 points, ten assists, three turnovers, and four steals.
Omari Johnson didn't miss a shot from the field on his way to eleven points. He was the only other Beaver in double figures, but Seth Tarver had eight points, and Rickey Claitt has five. Rickey, who left late in the game with injury, had three steals in the game, none bigger than the one that led to his injury. We wish Rickey the best in his recovery, and hope it's nothing serious.
Oregon State shot 50% percent as a team, and 46.7 percent from three point range. The Beavers have shot over fifty percent in five other games this season, but I would venture to guess that they haven't had a shooting performance like this against a Pac-10 team in a long time.
Also, Oregon State was a perfect 3-of-3 in overtime, and made their only three-pointer. Comparitively, the Trojans were 1-of-7 in the extra period, with their only field goal being Daniel Hackett's three-pointer on USC's second possession. After that, the Beavers went on an 8-1 run to win the game by four, amidst chants from the crowd of "Just Like Football!"
Against USC, that is impressive.
Very impressive.
Pregame Keys Revisited:
- Get into the Offense: Craig Robinson's Princeton Offense was working as well as it ever has on Sunday. Take it from the man in charge himself: "The second half was probably the best offensive that we've run. Each game we hope to get better and better, and that's what you saw in the second half." The Beavers seemed to be getting easy layups even when future pro Taj Gibson was on the court, and it shows in OSU's exceptional field goal percentage. This will continue to be important throughout the season, and it was something the Beavs struggled with in the game against UCLA. But now we know, and the team knows, that if we can run the offense to near-perfection, we can play with absolutely anyone.
- Control the Boards: USC held a slight advantage on the offensive boards, and they seemed to get their offensive rebounds at more opportune moments, but the Beavers kept up with the Trojans on the glass. The final numbers were 31-30 in favor of USC, which is exceptional, if you ask me. Taj Gibson, the 6'9" rebounding machine, who averages eleven rebounds a game, only had four rebounds against the Beavers. And only one of them came defensively.
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Find Consistency on Defense: The 1-3-1 zone worked brilliantly against the Trojans, and was much more
successful than it was against UCLA. It kept the Beavers in the game for much of the first half, after USC surged back from an early deficit. The Beavers were down five at the half... down fifteen at one point in the second half, and rallied back with strong defense and three-point shooting.
--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)