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In a weekend that saw Texas A&M men’s and women’s basketball knock off both respective OSU teams, and Wayne Tinkle and Co. bounced back against Pepperdine -- BeaversEdge.com senior writer Brenden Slaughter takes a dive into what’s next for the OSU basketball programs as they enter the final stretch run of non-conference play.

The Oregon State women’s basketball team is headed back to Gill Coliseum for some home cookin’ following a 1-1 weekend in Maui. The Beavers (8-2) bested Eastern Washington 93-45, but suffered their second loss of the season at the hands of Texas A&M by way of a 76-70 defeat.

Against the Aggies, Katie McWilliams led the Beavers with 19 points and Mikayla Pivec chipped in 10 and eight rebounds, but no other OSU starter reached double-figures in scoring. Kat Tudor (1-of-7) and Destiny Slocum (3-of-9) had an uncharacteristic shooting night and the Beavers struggled from the free throw line, going just 8-for-15.

"It was two good teams," Oregon State coach Scott Rueck told the Associated Press following the A&M loss. "They came out and they were the aggressive team from the beginning on both ends of the floor. Shot aggressively, defended aggressively, rebounded aggressively. They beat us to the punch for probably the first five or six minutes of this game before we matched it. After that it was a great game, but you've got to give them a lot of credit."

The Oregon State men’s basketball team snapped out of its two-game funk in blowout fashion against Pepperdine at Gill Coliseum on Monday night by way of an 82-67 victory. The Beavers (7-3) had played just two games in two weeks prior to Monday nights contest, a loss to Saint Louis and a loss to Texas A&M.

Wayne Tinkle noted after the Dam City Classic loss to A&M that he thought it was good for the Beavers to be back in action quickly to get past their two-game slide, and he was right on the money.

Behind a monster performance from junior center Kylor Kelley (10 points, nine rebounds, nine blocks) a return to form by Stephen Thompson Jr. (20 points), a little bit of everything from Tres Tinkle (21 points, seven assists, five steals and five rebounds) and a much-needed confidence building performance from Alfred Hollins (17 points, seven rebounds) the Beavers were able to show why they feel they are a tournament quality team.

1. Kylor Kelley…. What can you say? With starting center Gligorije Rakocevic missing the last four games and most-likely the rest of non-conference play with a stress-fracture in his left foot, the Beavers turned to Lane C.C. transfer Kylor Kelley to be their anchor in the middle. While the results have been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of consistent production from the 7-foot 215-pounder, he’s been a dominant defensive force when he’s been on the floor and Monday’s game against Pepperdine was no exception. Kelley nearly had a triple double against the Waves, notching 10 points, nine rebounds, and nine blocks. The nine blocks shattered the Beavers’ single game mark for blocks, passing Gary Payton II and Drew Eubanks who held the previous record with seven. In addition, Kelley has now blocked multiple shots in 10 straight games, which is also a new OSU record as he passed the former Beaver great Scott Haskin.

2. Oregon State simply had an off night against A&M… The Lady Beavs couldn’t get past Oregon State’s kryptonite last Saturday night as] their fellow Gill Coliseum counterparts also fell to the Aggies. While the box score isn’t glaringly out of sorts, it simply shows the Beavers had an uncharacteristic night. Whether it was Kat Tudor going 1-of-7 from the field, Taya Corosdale attempting just three shots, Destiny Slocum tallying just two assists, or OSU shooting just over 53 percent from the charity stripe, OSU didn’t play their best against A&M.

3. The Beavers aren’t as potent when Slocum isn’t dishing out assists… Slocum’s two assists against A&M was her second lowest output of the season, as she tallied just one against Notre Dame (a 91-81 loss). Comparatively, Slocum had 22 assists in the three games in between the Beavers loss to Notre Dame and the loss to A&M. It’s no secret that the Beavers play their best basketball when the Pac-12’s sixth best when it comes to assists per game (5.7) is able to to draw in the defense and kick it out to open shooters.

4. There’s something about Gill Coliseum… It’s often said that in college basketball, home-court advantage gives you something a little extra, and it’s no different for Wayne Tinkle’s Beavs. After cruising to a win over Pepperdine, the Beavers remain undefeated in the friendly confines of their home building. They have a scoring margin of plus 17.75 in wins over UC Riverside, Wyoming, Missouri State, and Pepperdine and if the Beavers are going to make their first NCAA Tournament since 2015-16, they’ll need to continue to be a dominant team on their home floor.

5. Lady Beavs continue to shoot the lights out from three… Might this be the best three-point shooting team Rueck has had during his time at OSU? Most likely. Through 10 games, the Beavers are shooting 43 percent from three-point range as a team, including five players who are shooting 40 percent or better. The Beavers have made the eighth most triples in the NCAA this season, and are sitting fourth in three-point percentage.

- Kelley is 1st in the NCAA with 4.0 blocks per game. The Pac-12’s next closest in Oregon’s Bol Bol, who sits at 2.7 per. Given that Big G is slated to return to action as soon as the Pac-12 opener against Oregon, it’s going to be interesting to see how Wayne Tinkle and Co. decide to handle the starting lineup. Will the Beavers go with two seven-footers in Big G and Kelley and shift Tres Tinkle back to small-forward with the Thompson brothers to allow Hollins to become the sixth man? Anything is possible, but the idea of the two-bigs down low certainly gives the Beaves a dynamic that few teams could match.

- Oregon State WBB ranks 10th in the NCAA in assists per game (19.5) and that’s good for second in the Pac-12, narrowly trailing Oregon (20.8). The Beavers also rank fourth in the NCAA in rebounding margin (+15.2) and sit 12th and lead the Pac-12 in field goal percentage defense (32.5 percent).

- Thompson Jr. is third in the Pac-12 in steals per game (1.8).

- Tres Tinkle is the only player in the Pac-12 to rank in the top-five in points per game (19.8) and rebounds per game (8.9).

- Pivec is the only guard in the Pac-12 to rank in the top five in rebounds per game at 9.2 per contest.

- McWilliams is second in the Pac-12 in three-point shooting percentage, knocking down 56 percent of her three-pointers.

- The Lady Beavs now have four players averaging double-digit scoring per game with Slocum (14.4), Pivec (13.3), Tudor (12.4), and McWilliams (10.0) leading the way. OSU’s four double-digit scorers are second best in the conference, behind Oregon who features five.

The Lady Beavs continue their homestand this Thursday as they welcome in the Duke Blue Devils (6-3) for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff. After falling to Texas A&M in Hawaii in what was just their second loss of the season, the Beavers will look to get back on track against a solid Duke squad. The Beavers and Blue Devils are completing the back end of a home and home series that saw Duke defeat OSU 72-65 last November in Durham.

On the men’s side, Oregon State returns to action on Friday when the Beavers host Kent State (8-2) at 12:00 p.m. The Golden Flashes most-recently dropped a close contest to Louisville, but have only played one other contest against power-five competition (a two point win over Vanderbilt, who just upset No. 18 Arizona State). OSU and Kent State are completing the third and final contest of a 2-for-1 set that featured both teams winning on their home floor. The Beavers won in 2016 (69-50) and the Golden Flashes defeated OSU 79-78 last season in Ohio.