Oregon St. vs. Washington St. Game Thread

Oregon St. (10-3, 0-1) vs. Washington St. (8-5, 0-1) at 3 PM PST at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, WA / ROOT Sports NW / KEJO 1240 AM / KPAM 860 (Streamed)

Oregon St. wraps up their Pac-12 Conference season opening road trip to the state of Washington with a trip to Spokane this afternoon. With winter break in full swing, and no one actually in Pullman, WA, Washington St. moved their opening weekend games against the Oregon schools to the Spokane Arena in order to attract some fans.

Both teams will be looking to bounce back after losses by double digit margins Thursday night. Oregon St. trailed the entire game against Washington, but after rallying within 3 points on Ahmad Starks' three pointer, the Beavers saw the Huskies run off 12 unanswered points to put the game away, and win 95-80..

Joe Burton led the Beavers in Seattle, with 18 points and 7 rebounds, one of 4 Oregon St. players in double figures. Angus Brandt added 16, Jared Cunningham had 15, and Starks, the only Beaver with more than one made three pointer, contributed 14 points.

But the Huskies' Tony Wroten turned in a 26 point, 7 rebound performance, and the Huskies were off and running. Washington out-shot Oregon St from the field, though not from three point range, but it was at the line where the Huskies won the game, making 17 free throws (out of 20 chances), as many as the Beavers took.

After 6 straight wins, the Cougars were not expecting to be beaten 92-75 by Oregon Thursday night. But Washington St. was largely ineffective in disrupting the Ducks, who shot 71% from the field in the first half in building a 20 point lead, and finished having made 34 of 49 shots, 69%, including 9 of 16 three pointers, 56%. Olu Ashaolu came off the Oregon bench to hit 9 off 11 shots, and lead everyone with 23 points.

Meanwhile, Washington St. only shot 46%, 26 of 57. Lacy DaVonte led the Cougars, with 19 points, on 7 of 9 shooting, and 5 of 6 on three pointers. Reggie Moore added 14 points, and Brock Motum finished with 12, but no one else even approached double digits. The Cougars will need to do a lot better both offensively and defensively in order to compete most nights in the Psc-12.

Not unlike Washington, the Cougars are another team that will look a lot different than the Washington St. team Beaver fans recall from last year. Klay Thompson took off to the NBA, and DeAngelo Casto headed oversees, taking a big chunk of coach Ken Bone's scoring and rebounding with them.

For those reasons, there's little about Washington St.'s two wins last season, 84-70 in Pullman and 61-55 at Gill Coliseum, that carries over to this season's matchup.

Washington St. runs a 3 guard offense, and doesn't even have a player listed as a "center" on their roster.

Faisel Aden leads the Cougars in scoring, averaging 14.2 points a game, but only tallied 4 points, and did not start, against the Ducks. Aden, one of the most trigger-happy players in the country, is also one of the most controversial ones as a result.

Motum leads Washington St. in rebounding, with 6.3 per game, and is second in scoring for the Cougs, at 14 points per game.

Oregon St. should be able to exploit a size advantage inside against Washington St., but will need to get back to better ball handling, which was a hallmark of the Beaver non-conference game, but something Washington was able to curb. Oregon St. only had 13 assists on their 33 made baskets in Seattle.

Here's the place to warm up for your New Year's Eve party with some Pac-12 hoops, or add your analysis from the conference's bowl game exploits.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com