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Washington (14-8, 3-7) at Oregon St. (15-7, 6-4) / Gill Coliseum / 1:30 PM PST / Pac-12 Channel / KEJO 1240 AM / KEX 1190 AM
Game Notes / Washington Game Notes / Rosters
Oregon St. wraps up "Washington weekend" with a rematch with the Huskies, in a game crucial to both teams.
The Beavers completed a season sweep of Washington St. with Thursday night's 55-50 win over the Cougs. It kept Oregon St. unbeaten this season at Gill, and it moved them right into the thick of the battle for possibly a first day bye in the Pac-12 Tournement. This home game against the nearly at the bottom of the Conference Huskies would go a long ways with 4 of the next 6 on the road.
The Huskies, sans most of their inside game both offensively and defensively since the dismissal of Robert Upshaw, come in on a 4 game losing streak, after Wednesday's 78-74 setback at Oregon, though its worth noting their last 2 losses were by a total of 6 points. 6 of their losses have been by 6 or fewer points, or in overtime. So Washington has been "right there".
It's also worth noting that the first meeting of the season came with the Huskies on a 4 game losing streak, and that 56-43 walloping of the Beavers began a 3 game Washington winning streak, and improved the Huskies to 158-138 in the long running series.
The absence of Upshaw presents Oregon St. with the challenge of a smaller, but overall faster, opponent that they saw in Seattle in this, the 297th meeting. But it should also play well for Jarmal Reid, who had a career high 20 points to lead the way in the come from behind several times win over Washington St.
On the subject of absences, its possible that Oregon St., who will be playing without Victor Robbins again today, may find themselves in that mode for the rest of the the season, instead of just this week and next. Robbins, who has sat out the last 7 games serving a 10 game suspension for an undisclosed violation of an unspecified athletic department policy, was arrested and subsequently released overnight last night on a charge of Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII). As Robbins is 20, an additional, age based charge is a possibility. More details to come on this development.
Oregon St. will be looking for a school record best ever 14-0 start to a season at home with a win today. The Beavers begin the day in a 3 way tie with Oregon and Stanford for 3rd in the Pac-12.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com