California Golden Bears (19-11)

• Latest BTD Pac-12 Power Rankings: 4th Overall (10-8)
• Head Coach: Cuonzo Martin (3rd Season)
• Top Performer: Ivan Rabb (14.3 PPG, 10.6 RPG)
• Points For: 68.0 PPG (293rd)
• Points Against: 62.4 PPG (15th)
• Last Game/Streak: 54-46 Loss at Colorado (2L)

The Skinny

With the Pac-12 Tournament set to kick-off on Wednesday in Las Vegas, Oregon State will size up their last chance to salvage anything from this year’s 5-26 campaign against California, a team who knocked the Beavers off twice already this season by a combined 41 points. Welcome to the the life of being the lowest seed entering your conference tournament.

While the Golden Bears are not exactly the toughest draw for Oregon State, California does present a formidable challenge with a balanced style of play and some superbly talented interior players, including All-Pac-12 First Team selection Ivan Rabb (14.3 PPG). The Golden Bears also have three other talented pieces that average in double-figures on a nightly basis, including All-Pac-12 honorable mention guard Jabari Bird (14.2 PPG), All-Pac-12 Freshman team honorable mention guard Charlie Moore (12.3 PPG) and grad transfer Grant Mullins (10.1 PPG).

The news lately for California has actually been their lack of steady offense, as the Golden Bears have posted an average of 45 points per game over their last two contests, since beating Oregon State 76-46 back on February 24th. However, the building block of the Golden Bears program under head coach Cuonzo Martin has always been defense and even through their recent rough stretch, California still ranks as the fifteenth toughest defensive in the country for points allowed (62.4 PPG).

For Oregon State, any chance at beating California will come from finding ways to pick apart their stout defense and getting things going offensively, where the Beavers have had their own serious problems as of late. Oregon State posted just 59 points in a 21-point blowout loss to rival Oregon, after tallying just 46 points in an aforementioned clash against California. The Beavers simply have to do better.

Oregon State is 4-3 when they score 69 points or more in a game this season, which means if they can hover around the seventy-point plateau, the Beavers have a solid chance in this one.

Game Info

Date: Wednesday, March 8th

Time: 2:30 PM PT

Location: T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas, NV)

Coverage: Pac-12 Network

The Bracket

Pac-12.com