Oregon State Hosts Western Oregon at Gill Coliseum (8 P.M. Pacific, ESPN+)
At 8 P.M. Pacific time tonight on ESPN+, Oregon State will take on the Division-II Western Oregon Wolves in a home game for the Beavers' third game of the season. In what will almost certainly be a victory for Wayne Tinkle's squad, the team will look to continue their winning ways by starting the season 3-0.
Led on offense by Michael Rataj, who is averaging a double-double with 15.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, Oregon State should have no problelms with a Western Oregon team that has struggled even at the Division-II level, going 5-21 overall and 2-16 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference last season.
Other leaders for the Beavers this season have been Parsa Fallah (14.5 points), Nate Kingz (13.5 points), DaMarco Minor (13.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.5 steals), and Josiah Lake II (10.0 points). As a team, they've averaging 78 points per game, and shooting 48.8% from the field and 77.8% from the free-throw line.
One area where the team has struggled so far has been their three-point shooting, where they are just 31.3% for the season. This is an area that they must improve upon to compete in a West Coast Conference league where plenty of teams shoot the ball well from distance. Just one player on the team, Kingz, has connected on five shots from beyond the arc – the rest of the team, combined, has hit 10.
This could be an area to work on tonight against a Western Oregon team that will frankly not be able to compete against Division-I athletes. It would be helpful to get junior college transfer Isaiah Sy going, who is just 1-for-10 from deep in 2024 despite being a highly effective three-point threat at his last stop.
Oregon State's next game will be at home against Cal State-Fullerton at 7 P.M. Pacific time on Friday, November 15.
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Keenan Womack is a sportswriter native to Dallas, Texas, who has spent the last 12 years in Austin, the home of his alma mater, the University of Texas. Keenan has covered sports for SB Nation, Bleacher Report, Rivals/Orangebloods, a host of his own sites and now, Fan Nation. Focusing on basketball, Keenan was on the beat for the Longhorns hoops team for the last two-and-a-half years before moving on to pursue other opportunities. He is married and lives with his wife close to the Moody Center, so they can continue to catch games together.