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Nevada (5-2) at Oregon St. (5-1) / Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, OR / 1 PM PST / Pac-12 Network / KEJO 1240 AM / KEX 1190 AM
Oregon State is back in action this afternoon, hosting Nevada from the Mt. West. It's an odd scheduling twist, bucking football Championship Saturday, so there might be more viewers who record this one than watch it live.
And it might be well worth it, both the Beavers and Wolfpack are having good, competitive pre-seasons, and today's game promises to be another on both accounts.
Oregon State comes in off Wednesday night's 79-70 win over Loyola-Marymount, in a game that was closer than the final score suggests until the waning seconds. It was a big night for Gary Payton II, who tied his dad's team record for consecutive games with a steal at 37, and can break it today. GP II almost accomplished a rare double double as well, as though he only scored 6 points, he had 9 assists and 9 rebounds.
Four other Beavers picked up the scoring slack though, led by Olaf Schaftenaar's who had a season high 19 points, and Drew Eubanks, who had 17 points, and narrowly missed his own double double, also with 9 boards.
Oregon State also got 11 points from Langston Morris-Walker, and freshman Stevie Thompson Jr. came off the bench, delighting his dad, Assistant Coach Steven Thompson with a 12 point, 2 steal performance.
Nevada just got around to their lower division opponent games this week, and the Wolfpack is coming into Gill Coliseum off a 108-57 win over Holy Names on Monday night. It was a good bounce back after a 75-66 setback last Saturday at Cal State Fullerton. (Side note, the Titans lost to Loyola Marymount 79-74 in their opener.)
The Wolfpack's only other loss was by 1 point at Hawaii, who, in case you are wondering, is a Big Sky team, but not for Basketball, competing instead in the non-football (anymore) Big West in hoops.
Nevada also has a 21 point win over Montana State, an 85-82 win at Pacific in double overtime, and a 3 point win over Portland State.
Thw Wolfpack have 4 starters averaging in double figures, led by 6'4" senior guard Marqueze Coleman, who averages 18.6 points and 4.6 assists per game, and 6'9" forward AJ West, Nevada's leading rebounder, at 8,7 boards per night. The Wolfpack are a good rebounding team, and have out-boarded every one of their opponents so far this season.
Jarmal Reid has been cleared to return to action for Oregon State, after recovering from a fractured foot; whether he sees the floor from other than the bench today will depend on how the game unfolds. But he is available.
It's the 10th meeting between the teams, but the first since 2008, when Nevada won 79-71 in Reno. The Wolfpack leads the series 5-4, and have won all the meetings in the modern era. Oregon State took 2 games in both 1922 & 1923, and the teams didn't meet again until 3 games in the 1970's, which include 2 1 point wins, including one in the postseason, in the NIT tournament, and a 1 point win. The last game at Gill was a 75-47 rout win for Nevada, when they were ranked #24.
Today is also the 2nd Annual Teddy Bear Toss. At halftime fans can throw a stuffed animal on the court to be donated to a child in need. There were more than 1,000 stuffed animals thrown on the court at last year's inaugural toss. So if you are going, and have time to pick up a teddy bear, you could put a smile on a child's face come Christmas.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com