For The 353rd Time: The First Installation Of The 2020 Basketball Civil War

What To Know

A battle of two teams sitting on two different ends of the league picture, Oregon State is currently fighting their way out of the conference cellar, while Oregon is trying to create some separation at the top of the pile. But as always in rivalry games, you can almost throw out the records with the amount of pure love lost between these two programs over the years.

Players To Know: Obviously, two of the best talents that the Pac-12 has to offer are in this one, with forward Tres Tinkle from Oregon State and guard Payton Pritchard representing Oregon. The duo won’t necessarily go head-to-head in terms of match-up, but they’ll both be leading their team’s on the offensive front. Around them, fellow guard Ethan Thompson may draw the Pritchard assignment at times, while big man Kylor Kelley could have a strong offensive impact with the Ducks thin front-line. Oregon will rely on guard Chris Duarte to keep his hot play going as well.

What To Watch For: The match-up on the interior. This game is packed to the brim with guard and wing players who can create for themselves and stroke the ball from behind the arc. What will be interesting to see if how the Ducks counter Oregon State’s inside size advantage, especially when it comes to finishing at Kelley and not allowing switches for Tinkle. The Ducks like to keep their bigs in a revolving door type of rotation. They’ll need to stay out of foul trouble and compete on the glass all night.

Injuries: Both sides are fairly healthy, with the exception of Oregon forward N’Faly Dante, who’s been out with a twisted knee injury. The Ducks have been fairly quiet on his status as of late, but I wouldn’t be surprised whether he suits up for this or doesn’t. I genuinely think this is a day-to-day, monitoring the situation type of problem.

Numbers To Know

0.4: The difference in points per game between Oregon guard Payton Pritchard (19.6 PPG) and Oregon State forward Tres Tinkle (19.2 PPG), the two likely leading candidates for Pac-12 Player of the Year. Pritchard also averages 5.8 assists and 4.3 rebounds per contest, while Tinkle adds 6.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists per outing.

4: Four is the number of games that the Beavers sit behind Oregon in the current league standings. Oregon is 7-3 in Pac-12 play, while Oregon State sits at a reverse 3-7.

88: For his Oregon State career, forward Tres Tinkle has scored 2,084 points, placing him second on the Beavers all-time scoring list. He sits just 88 points behind Gary Payton, who holds the record with 2,172 points. If Tinkle scores in double-figures on Saturday, it’ll also be the 88th straight game in which he’s achieved the feat.

353: Yes, you read that correctly. The Beavers and the Ducks are meeting for the 353rd time in the most played rivalry in the history of college basketball. 353 games is more than enough time to spew up a lot of bad blood between these two schools. There’s no love lost here, that’s for sure.

2019: Last year (2019), Oregon State swept the Ducks for the first time since 2010. They’ve also won three of their last four contests overall over the past two seasons. Prior to that, Oregon won seven of eight games between the squads from 2014-2017.

Game Info

• Date: Saturday, February 8th
• Time: 7:30 PM PT
• Location: Gill Coliseum (Corvallis, OR)
• Coverage: Pac-12 Network