Oregon St. Visits USC

Oregon St. (16-8, 7-5) at USC (9-15, 1-11) / Galen Center / 2 PM PST / Pac-12 Channel / KEJO 1240 AM / KEX 1190 AM

Game Notes / USC Game Notes

Oregon St. wraps up their LA trip with today's game at USC. Both teams will be looking to bounce back from very different disappointing outing Wednesday night.

The Beavers saw their 2 game winning streak snapped, but the game was wasn't close. UCLA took a 15 point lead by halftime, and cruised to the 75-59 win. It was the 3rd road game in a row where Oregon St. hasn't played well at all offensively, and wound up with a double digit margin of defeat as a result.

The Trojans took their 9th loss in a row, and 11th in their last 12 games, but only fell to Oregon, the 3rd. place team in the conference, by 5 points, as the Ducks prevailed 80-75. 6 of USC's last 9 losses have been close contests that could have gone either way.

Oregon St. got their usual great game from Gary Payton II, who had a game high 24 points, and Langston Morris-Walker and Jarmal Reid were both in double digits as well against UCLA. But that was literally it, as the rest of the team teamed up for only 6 points and 4 rebounds.

USC got a good game from Julian Jacobs, who had 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, and Darion Clark and Nikola Jovanovic were both in double digits as well. But no one could control Oregon's Joseph Young, who dumped in 26 points for the Ducks.

In the first meeting in Corvallis, the Beavers beat the Trojans 59-55 in a close one. Payton had a 21 point, 10 rebound double double, and Reid added 14 off the bench. Notably, Olaf Schaftenaar, currently mired in a slump, and shutout at the basket and on the boards by the Bruins, added 11 points and 4 rebounds. Oregon St. will be hard pressed to pick up what would be just their 3rd road win of the season, and 2nd in Pac-12 play, today unless Schaftenaar snaps out of his slump.

USC was led in Corvallis by the inconsistent Katin Reinhardt who had 17 points at Gill, and followed that up with a 35 point effort in the Trojans' 3 overtime loss to Colorado, but has been held to single digits in 2 of 4 games since then.

It was a game of wild swings, as USC responded to Reid scoring 9 straight points for Oregon St. with a 9-0 run that made it a 2 point game at halftime. Schaftenaar had a personal 9-0 run in the second half, only to see the Trojans answer with an 11-0 run.

And there was the over 5 minute long second half stretch that saw the teams combine for 4 total points.

Payton finally led the Beavers to victory, and the same sort of uneven affair should be expected in today's 131st renewal of the rivalry, which the Trojans lead by a narrow 67-63 margin.

USC guard Jordan McLaughlin will miss the game, after suffering a shoulder injury Wednesday in the game against Oregon.

Oregon St. is a 2 point favorite, the first time the Beavers have been favored on the road since January of last year.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com