Oregon State Basketball: Opponent Preview - Wyoming Cowboys (Game 2)

Wyoming Cowboys (1-0)

• Head Coach: Allen Edwards (2nd Season)
• Top Performer: Hayden Dalton (30.0 PPG, 13.0 RPG)
• Points For: 74.0 PPG (T-150th)
• Points Against: 65.0 (T-89th)
• Last Game/Streak: 74-65 Win v. Chattanooga (1W)

The Skinny

After last year’s 5-27 campaign, Oregon State knew they needed to make some changes.

One of the Beavers biggest issues a season ago was their lethargic offense, which averaged just over 63 points per game, as the country’s twelfth-worst scoring unit. It was a awful mix of a sometimes painfully slow tempo, a lack of forward Tres Tinkle in the mix and a failure to execute soundly in their half-court sets, which severely hampered Oregon State’s chances to win most nights.

One game into the 2017-2018 season, that “painfully slow” offense sure did look a whole lot different.

The Beavers dropped 99 points on Southern Utah in their season opener, the most ever in the Wayne Tinkle era, to help start the new season off on the right foot for Oregon State. And they’ll need that strong momentum to carry over into game two, where the competition level steps up a bit, against a 1-0 Wyoming team that returned 78% of their scoring from last year’s CBI Championship squad.

As the Beavers now adjust their focus onto the Cowboys, they likely got quickly familiar with Wyoming forward Hayden Dalton (30.0 PPG), who had a massive showing for the boys from Laramie in his first outing of the season. A 6’ 8” forward, who is featured below in our “Players To Watch”, is one of the stand-out pieces in a tough Wyoming front-court, that will also feature the ever-reliable Alan Herndon (8.0 PPG), freshman Hunter Maldonado (7.0 PPG) and UTEP transfer Brodricks Jones (6.0 PPG).

While Oregon State’s strength is mainly in the interior as well, between the imposing combination of Tres Tinkle and Drew Eubanks, the place where the Beavers may be able to one-up the Cowboys is on the perimeter, where Stephen Thompson Jr., Jaquori McLaughlin and Ethan Thompson should be able to outperform Wyoming’s hit-or-miss guards. Washington State transfer Nyaires Redding (9.0 PPG) did have a nice initial showing for the Cowboys, as did sophomore Cody Kelley (9.0 PPG), but the depth and versatility simply isn’t there for Wyoming.

So long as the Beavers defense doesn’t disappear (and their offense continues it’s hitting on all cylinders style), Oregon State could could reach the half-way point of their win total against Division I opponents from a season ago on Monday night, in just the second game of the 2017-2018 campaign.

Players To Watch

Hayden Dalton (SR - Forward): What a night it was for Hayden Dalton in game one. Projected to be one of the few stars on the Cowboys roster for the 2017-2018 campaign, Dalton looked like a one man show in Wyoming’s season-opening win against Chattanooga, with a stunning 30 point, 13 rebound outing, which included five made three-pointers. Dalton will be priority one on the Beavers scouting report.

Alan Herndon (SR - Forward): If Dalton is Oregon State’s main focus, his front-court partner in Alan Herndon should be option number two to contain for the Beavers, as the 6’ 9”, 210-pounder is no stranger to signature outings. Herndon averaged 11.1 points per game a season ago and posted four blocks in his own solid season debut. The big man combo of Dalton and Herndon will be quite the duo to handle.

Cody Kelley (SO - Guard): After playing more of a minimal role for Wyoming a season ago, sophomore guard Cody Kelley looked to be more with the program against the Mocs, where he chipped in his own 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Kelley may not be the “big game” threat that Dalton or Herndon are, but he’s savvy enough to exploit the lesser perimeter defender that he may be matched up against.

Game Info

• Date: Monday, November 13th
• Time: 8:00 PM PT
• Location: Gill Coliseum (Corvallis, OR)
• Coverage: Pac-12 Networks