Oregon State Starts Bay Area Trip On The Farm

Oregon State (14-8.6, 5-6) at Stanford (11-10, 4-6) / Maples Pavilion, Palo Alto, CA / 8 PM PST / Fox Sports 1 / KEJO 1240 AM / KEX 1190 AM

Game Notes

Oregon State starts this year's bay area trip tonight on the farm, with a visit to Stanford.

After last weekend's home sweep of the mountain schools, a down to the last 1/10 th. of a second 71-69 upset of Utah, and a 60-56 cliffhanger over Colorado, the Beavers remained in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament berth, or at least a high seed in the NIT. It makes this weekend's road trip very important, and getting a split would help Oregon State's post-season prospects significantly.

Problem is, Oregon State has yet to win a conference game on the road this season, and only have 1 win away from Gill against a Pac-12 opponent in coach Wayne Tinkle's tenure. And while California, whom the Beavers beat 77-71 last month at Gill, similarly hasn't won a Pac-12 road game yet this season, no one has been able to beat the Bears in Berkeley.

That makes the struggling Cardinal, who have lost 3 in a row, 4 of their last 6, and 5 of 7, all by double digit margins, a priority, and probably the best opportunity for an Oregon State road win down the stretch. Problem is the Beavers don't match up well, and Stanford, with a staggering 17 rebound edge on the boards (including 20! offensive rebounds), has already beat them, taking a 78-72 win when the Cardinal were at Gill.

With that win, the Cardinal have now won 6 of the last 7 games against the Beavers. Further, Maples has been a house of horrors for Oregon State, where Stanford has won 20 of the last 21 meetings, and the Beavers haven't won since 2009.

Oregon State will continue to be without Daniel Gomis, who is out with a stress fracture.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com