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Utah (11-17, 3-13) vs Oregon St. (13-16, 3-13) / Huntsman Center / 6 PM PST / ESPNU / KEJO 1240 AM / KEX 1190 AM
The Beavers begin their final "series" of the basketball season tonight as they travel to the new schools in the Pac-12. Utah and Oregon St. are currently tied for 10th in the Pac-12, and are looking to earn the 10 seed in the conference tournament that begins next Wednesday in Las Vegas.
In the first meeting between these teams, the Beavers defeated the Utes 82-64, in a game where Roberto Nelson led all scorers with 26 points, Joe Burton had 17 of his own, and Eric Moreland pulled down 15 rebounds. Utah had two scorers score 20 points (Jarred DuBois had 20 and Brandon Taylor 21), but the rest of the team scored just 23(!) points.
The Utes 3 conference wins have been at home against Arizona State and Colorado, and on the road against Washington. Most recently, Utah fell to Stanford 84-66, their third consecutive loss. In that game, DuBois led the Utes with 22 points. The Utes got a meager 8 points from their bench. Utah was completely outplayed by the Cardinal, who took a lead with after about 4 minutes of play and never relinquished it.
The Beavers are (surprise!) coming off a heartbreaking loss, this time to the Ducks. The Beavers (surprise!) had the lead well into the 2nd half, but failed to finish down the stretch. Nelson scored 31 points in the 85-75 loss, and Devon Collier scored 14. It was a technical foul after an Eric Moreland dunk (that was disallowed) that truly gave the Ducks the momentum and eventually the game.
Washington, the 12th ranked team in the conference, beat USC on Wednesday, and has UCLA as the lone remaining game on their schedule. The Huskies are just a half game behind the Utes and Beavs, so the bottom quarter of the conference is really a toss-up.
Go Beavs!