Colorado (12-13) at Oregon State (16-10)
GAME NOTES: Desperately trying to put a stop to a three-game losing streak, the Oregon State Beavers will entertain the Colorado Buffaloes Saturday in a Pac-12 Conference showdown at Gill Coliseum.
Oregon State has dropped three consecutive Pac-12 games to fall to an even 7-7 against league competition. The Beavers were handed a 47-37 loss on Thursday in a clash against Utah, which served as Oregon State's first home loss of the season. The Beavers are now 14-1 at Gill Coliseum.
Colorado fell back into the loss column with a 73-60 defeat at the hands of Oregon Wednesday night. The Buffaloes have lost four of their last five games, and fell to 5-8 against Pac-12 foes with the recent loss. The team is also a mere 1-8 on the road this season.
Oregon State and Colorado have met 14 times on the basketball court. The Buffaloes own a 10-4 all-time record over the Beavers, with wins in the last two head-to-head meetings. Oregon State does have a 3-2 lead in games played in Corvallis.
Oregon's offense proved to be too much for Colorado to handle on Wednesday night. The Ducks connected on 41.4 percent of their shots from the field, and limited the Buffaloes to just 35.5 percent shooting in the contest, which included a dismal 2-of-18 line from beyond the 3-point arc. Askia Booker led the charge for the Buffaloes, netting a team-best 20 points with seven rebounds in the defeat. Wesley Gordon chipped in with 14 points and six boards, and Josh Scott tallied a double-double with 10 points and a team-best 17 rebounds in 30 minutes of action.
Booker has proven to be one of the better scorers in the Pac-12 this season, checking in at first on his team and fourth in the league with a 17.4 ppg mark, adding in a team-high in assists with 78. Scott has shaken off the rust since coming back from injury, and enters the weekend netting 13.2 ppg with a team-leading 8.0 rpg. Xavier Johnson is the third and final double-digit scorer for the Buffaloes this season, scoring 11.1 ppg on 42.9 percent shooting from the floor. Colorado as a unit is a middle-of-the-road offensive team, averaging 67.0 ppg on 42.7 percent shooting, and is giving up 65.0 ppg to opponents on the defensive end.
Oregon State's home winning streak came to an end on Thursday in a defensive battle against Utah. But while the Utes managed to shoot a respectable 42.5 percent from the floor after attempting only 40 shots, the Beavers didn't perform so well on the offensive end. Oregon State shot 33.3 percent from the field, and only hit on 2-of-15 from 3-point distance en route to scoring just 37 points in the contest. Malcolm Duvivier scored 12 points and was the only Beaver to net a double-digit scoring figure in the contest. He added five rebounds and four assists in the defeat, while Gary Payton II pulled down a team-best six boards in 40 minutes of action.
Payton has been the go-to player for a better part of the 2014-15 season. He currently leads his team in scoring with 12.8 ppg on 49.4 percent shooting. The 6-foot-3 guard is the team's top rebounder as well at 7.8 boards per outing (ranked fourth in the Pac-12 this season), and adds in 28 blocked shots, 78 assists and a team-best 77 steals. Payton is the only active player for Oregon State to average a double-digit scoring mark, although Langston Morris-Walker (9.8 ppg) and Duvivier (9.7 ppg) are right on the cusp of that distinction. Oregon State possesses the worst scoring offense in the league at 60.7 ppg, but owns the second-best scoring defense, allowing 57.1 ppg.
The Beavers desperately need this win at home to get things back on track. Colorado hasn't been very hot lately either, so the opportunity is there for Oregon State, especially at home.