Oregon State MBB Hosts Rival Oregon at Gill Coliseum
Tonight, the Oregon State Beavers will host their rivals, the Oregon Ducks, at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, a game that tips at 7 PM PST on ESPN+. Both teams sport undefeated records and look to extend their winning streaks to start the season, though this game will be each team's biggest challenge to date. The Beavers have won their last 13 home matchups against non-conference opponents, but this is a much different scenario as they bring a Big Ten team to town.
Oregon State has lost seven straight to the Ducks, but look to have a chance to compete this year against an Oregon team that has stumbled a bit out of the gate despite being unblemished. The Ducks had to come back against Portland State in order to force overtime, and outside of that have not been tested much this season. They have struggled from beyond the arc, shooting just 29.9% as a team, and have relied almost completely on center Nate Bittle to score and crash the boards (14.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 50% on field goals).
Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad, who was getting a lot of hype preseason after an impressive freshman year, is going through a sophomore slump, shooting just 30.8% from the field. As a team, the Ducks are about average in NCAA basketball in overall field goal percentage at 46.6%, good for 138th in the country.
This matchup will come down to post play – Oregon gets a lot of its points at the rim due to their lack of perimeter scoring, and the Beavers, though better from three at 32.7%, still would prefer not to have to win by shooting from deep. Forward Michael Rataj will be a key factor here, as will forward Parsa Fallah and guard Nate Kingz. Oregon is averaging more rebounds per game than State, so much of this will come down to which team can control the glass.
As these teams rekindle an ages-old rivalry, it will be important for the Beavers to come out strong early and build a lead. Oregon has shown weaknesses that Oregon State can exploit, specifically if they can keep the Ducks out of the paint and force them to shoot from outside. If they can get an early lead and put pressure on Oregon, they can force them into low-percentage looks and pull off the upset as six-point underdogs.
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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.