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Game info

Who: No. 24 ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ (11-4, 1-1) at Oregon State (11-4, 1-2)

Where: Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore.

When: Sunday, 8 p.m.

TV: FS1

Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

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Probable starters: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥

G Nico Mannion (6-3 freshman)

G Dylan Smith (6-5 senior)

F Josh Green (6-6 freshman)

F Zeke Nnaji (6-11 freshman)

C Chase Jeter (6-10 senior)

Probable starters: Oregon State

G Ethan Thompson (6-5 junior)

G Zach Reichle (6-5 junior)

F Tres Tinkle (6-7 senior)

F Alfred Hollins (6-6 junior)

C Kylor Kelley (7-0 senior)

How they match up

The series: The Wildcats have won seven straight against the Beavers but it hasn’t always been easy in Corvallis lately. In 2014-15, the seventh-ranked Wildcats lost 58-56 at OSU while Deandre Ayton and Company needed overtime to beat the Beavers on Feb. 22, 2018, when Allonzo Trier had been suspended for the second time because of a drug test and Ira Lee had a concussion. Last season, the Wildcats pulled out a 74-72 win when Devonaire Doutrive hit a rebound basket at the buzzer. After losing three straight to OSU at the start of the Sean Miller era, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has won 14 of the past 15 matchups. UA leads the all-time series 65-21.

This season: Oregon State will visit McKale Center on Feb. 20 to complete the regular-season series.

Oregon State overview: With one of the conference’s most unique trios — combo guard Ethan Thompson, versatile forward Tres Tinkle and shot-swatting big man Kylor Kelley — the Beavers have been a tough team to figure. They lost only two nonconference games and, after Colorado upset Oregon in the Pac-12 opener, OSU beat Colorado — and then suffered its first home loss of the season to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ State on Thursday, by six points.

While OSU has the 28th-most efficient offense in Division I, the Beavers struggle from the 3-point line and any place on the defensive end of the court.

OSU still deploys a mix of man-to-man and zone defenses, and will occasionally trot out its 1-3-1 zone, as it did in a win at Colorado last weekend. But OSU still has a mediocre defensive efficiency, allowing 98.9 points per 100 possessions, and allowing opponents to hit 34.4% from 3-point range. Over three conference games, the numbers are even worse: OSU is the Pac-12’s worst defensive team overall in efficiency and its three Pac-12 opponents have shot 43.8% from 3 against the Beavers.

However, Kelley is the nation’s leader in blocked shots (4.27 per game) and is second overall in block percentage, blocking 17.0% of foes’ shots when he’s on the floor, according to Kenpom.

Kelley is also an improving defensive player, averaging 11.1 points and making 58.1% of his shots. The Beavers also have more help inside from 6-6 Alfred Hollins, 7-footer Roman Silva and 6-10 Payton Dastrup, allowing Tinkle to spend most of his time at shooting guard and small forward instead of at power forward, as he did out of necessity earlier in his OSU career.

Already one of the Pac-12’s most productive and versatile players, Tinkle has responded from the perimeter by hitting 46.5% from 3-point range while combo guard Thompson averages 16.7 points and 4.5 assists. Both Tinkle (23.4%) and Thompson (25.0%) record the assist on OSU shots about quarter of the time they’re on the floor. Zach Reichle, the Beavers’ starting shooting guard, is a generally well-regarded shooter but is hitting only 28.8% from 3 so far this season.

He said it

“Their offense is very good. Tres Tinkle, if he’s not the best player in our conference he’s one of them. (Oregon’s) Payton Pritchard may be the other guy that between their own talent and their experience, they’re just really valuable players. I think that their 1-2 punch between Ethan Thompson and Tres Tinkle offensively is something that every team has to really prepare for. Kelley blocked a lot of shots last year and he’s doing it again this year, but he’s now a double-figure scorer, more of a dependable offensive player. When they haven’t been on the winning side … it might be more their defense than their offense. … They mix up their defenses quite a bit. Playing against Oregon State, when we have the ball and they change their defenses, it’s being able to get good shots and play our game on offense.� — UA coach Sean Miller

KEY PLAYERS

Oregon State: Tres Tinkle

The Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate is the league’s only player to rank in the Top 10 in four conference statistical categories: scoring (second, 19.9), rebounding (10th, 6.9), assists (10th, 3.7) and steals (second, 2.0). But among the very few things Tinkle hasn’t collected during his stat-worthy OSU career: a win over ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥: Stone Gettings

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ coach Sean Miller says he isn’t going to change his starting lineup, despite having taken both Ira Lee and Chase Jeter out of recent games for significant amounts of time, but he has gone out of his way to say that Gettings makes the Wildcats better when he’s on the floor. Against the different defensive looks OSU will show, especially with Kelley’s rim protection, a little savvy play and outside shooting from Gettings may be helpful for the Wildcats.

Sidelines

Dammed up

Oregon State was making a case for a potential NCAA Tournament berth until it lost to ASU on Thursday, having gone 10-2 in nonconference play and opening league play with a not-so-bad loss at Utah and an upset win at Colorado.

The Beavers’ weak spot has been their defense, which fell completely apart in an 82-76 loss to ASU. The normally poor-shooting Sun Devils, who hit just 30.5% from the field at McKale Center last week, shot 48.3% overall and hit half of their 16 3-pointers on Thursday at Gill Coliseum.

So what happened to the OSU defense, the constantly switching one with the 1-3-1 zone and other tricks?

Tinkle has a hard time explaining that one.

“We basically have the same team we had last year and the year before,� Tinkle says. “It’s not like we lost our best defensive guys. It’s gotta mean more to a handful of people. It’s hard to guard for 40 minutes on an island. One guy can help, but it takes everybody.�

Tinkle said the defensive effort has been good at times but not consistently.

“We gotta do it for the last 40 minutes,� he said. “When we get it going we’re really good. We have all the pieces and now it’s putting everything out there.�

Extended audition

When Tinkle entered the NBA draft pool last spring, nobody had much reason to believe he was really serious.

After all, his dad coaches the Beavers and presumably might want him to hang around for another season.

But Tres said Saturday he was “ready to move on.� He said he received good feedback from NBA scouts, too, but returned in part because he wasn’t completely sold on what he heard.

So Tinkle came back and, thanks to the Beavers’ increased depth up front, has been able to work on his perimeter game this season. He’s averaging 19.9 points and 6.9 rebounds, though his assist-turnover ratio is below 2-1 (56 assists to 35 turnovers).

And, except for that ASU loss, playing a little more college ball hasn’t been all bad.

“I definitely think it’s working out,� Tinkle said. “We’ve had the best start since I’ve been at Oregon State so I can’t complain about that.�

Thank you, NBA

After Nico Mannion’s final inbounds pass went into the hands of Oregon’s Payton Pritchard, Oregon coach Dana Altman could breathe a sigh of relief.

Two, actually.

Because not only did the steal clinch the Ducks’ overtime win, but it also marked the only time that Mannion will be visiting Matthew Knight Arena. (UA coach Sean Miller confirmed last week the widely known expectation that Mannion will be leaving after this season.)

Mannion had 20 points on 9-for-17 shooting against Oregon while posting three assists to six turnovers, while Pritchard had 18 points on 6-for-21 shooting with six assists to four turnovers.

“They had a good battle,� Altman said. “I thought Nico played really good. I’m glad he’s gonna be there one (year). That’s the advantage, having Payton for four. Nico’s really talented.�

Numbers game

2

Eventual Elite Eight ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ teams that lost at OSU during the regular season (2010-11 and 2014-15).

9

Points Ethan Thompson needs to reach 1,000 for his Oregon State career.

214

Points Tres Tinkle needs to become OSU’s all-time leading scorer (Gary Payton leads with 2,172 from 1987-90)