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Oregon State (15-9.6, 6-7) at # 16 Oregon (20-6, 9-4) / Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, OR / 7 PM PST / Pac-12 Network / KEJO 1240 AM / KEX 1190 AM
Oregon State and Oregon square off tonight in the season's second Civil War battle, and the 346th in the most played series in NCAA basketball. The Beavers, who played arguably their best game of the season, bumped off the Ducks 70-57 in the first meeting this year, back on Sun., Jan. 3 to kick off the Pac-12 campaign, and Oregon State holds a 186-159 edge in the series, which began back in 1903, but Oregon had won 4 in a row, and 7 of the last 8, prior to then.
Oregon went on to lead or share the lead in the conference race much of this season, even though they got swept last week in the Bay area, losing both games badly. The loss at California last Thursday came to a team that no one has been able to beat in Berkeley, but the Ducks were down 20 in the first half, and never got close, eventually losing 83-63.
Saturday's loss at Stanford was only a 4 point, 76-72 setback, but the Cardinal are the 9th place team in the Pac-12.
As a result, Oregon slid from #11 to #16 in this week's AP Poll.
Oregon State got a split out of the Bay Area, getting their first win at Stanford, and just their second in 22 trips to the Farm, with their 62-50 win over the Cardinal last Thursday night.
Things didn't go as well as Haas Pavilion Saturday night for the Beavers, as they joined the Ducks in the long line of visitors that Cal has clobbered, as Jabari Bird backed a career night against Oregon with a 23 point effort to lead the Bears to an 83-71 win.
The Beavers will be looking for their first sweep of the Ducks since 2010, but you have to go back to 1993 to find the last prior OSU season sweep.Meanwhile, Oregon, meanwhile, is unbeaten at Matthew Knight Arena so far this season.
It's an important game for NCAA seeding for Oregon, who seems still a solid entry despite last weekend's problems in the Bay Area, and an opportunity to move from bubble status to more securely in for Oregon State, who are currently "in" in most projections, but need wins to hold onto that status. Both teams will suffer from the missed opportunity for a quality win, though.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com