5 Reasons why Oregon State will beat the Ducks
The 9-5 Oregon State Beavers host the 11-4 Oregon Ducks on Friday night at 7 p.m. PT. BeaversEdge.com gives five reasons why OSU will be victorious in the first Civil War matchup of the season.
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1. Oregon State plays great defense. Despite OSU’s offense being frustrating at times this season, OSU’s defense is a bright spot in 2017-18. Through 16 games, the Beavers rank No. 2 in the Pac-12 in points allowed (68.9 per game) and No. 2 in steals (7.3). In short, the Beavers make up for their somewhat vanilla offense by playing lock down defense and forcing their opponent to take bad shots. The success of OSU’s defense is also heavily dependent on the Beavers’ 2-3 zone. When the Beavers execute and play tough zone defense, they usually win games. When they don’t play with discipline and communicate in the zone, they usually struggle. Look for the Beavers to have a tough and gritty 2-3 zone with a mix of man-to-man against Oregon.
2. Tres Tinkle is heating up. I wrote prior to Pac-12 play that Tres Tinkle needed to step up and be the type of a potential Pac-12 POY candidate that many pundits tabbed him as. Luckily for the Beavers, he did just that. Tinkle looked focused and poised during the first two conference games, as he has averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists on 48 percent shooting. While Tinkle’s conference statistics are relatively similar to his nonconference ones, I’ve noticed a change in his demeanor. He is more aggressive offensively and is constantly trying to get his teammates involved if his own shot isn’t there. He’s also becoming a vocal leader in the team huddles. If he continues this torrid pace, the Ducks will have a tough challenge on their hands.
3. Beavers getting PG play. After the departure of Jaquori McLaughlin, the Beavers had a lot of questions about who would take over point guard duties and run the offense. While the Beavers haven’t settled on a single player specifically, they’ve done it by committee as Tinkle, Stevie and Ethan Thompson and Ronnie Stacy have shared the position. At first, it wasn’t pretty, but the Beavers have recovered well and average nearly 15 assists per game. The Beavers have enough talent on the floor with Tinkle, Drew Eubanks, and the Thompson brothers to do most anything on offense, but if they can continue to get solid PG play from the committee, OSU will be a tough out.
4. Oregon is inconsistent. Let’s get one thing clear folks. This is not the Oregon of last year. This isn’t the same Ducks squad that went to the Final Four and blew the Beavers out of the water in Eugene last year. Dillon Brooks, Tyler Dorsey, Chris Boucher, and Jordan Bell are all in the NBA now. Only former West Linn Lion point guard Payton Pritchard remains from last year's starting lineup. The Ducks brought in one of the top recruiting classes in the country in the offseason and still possess a dangerous team with the likes of Pritchard, Kenny Wooten, and Troy Brown. Oregon has looked really good this season in wins against DePaul, and Portland State, but didn’t play well in their first two conference games. The real question is, which Oregon team will the Beavers get on Friday?
5. Gill Coliseum will be packed. Prior to the start of Pac-12 play, there were a lot of doubts about how competitive this Beaver team would be when conference play came around. The Beavers scheduled lackluster opponents and lost to teams that they shouldn’t have lost to and it raised suspicion about this team’s ability to win games. Most of those thoughts have been put to rest and then some as the Beavers nearly swept the mountain schools but settled for a 1-1 split. With OSU looking fun, energized, and focused against Utah and Colorado, fans will be flocking to Gill on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. Look for OSU to nearly sell out Gill and give the Beavers a huge home court advantage.