Oregon State Preview: Bears Hope Third Time's the Charm

The Cal men’s basketball team certainly knows what it is getting into when it hosts Oregon State at 7 p.m. Thursday night.

This will be the third meeting of the season between the schools and the Bears (8-17, 3-15 Pac-12) are 0-for-2.  In a hastily-arranged season opener, made necessary because Colorado State had to cancel its game against the Bears, Oregon State (11-11, 8-9) prevailed, 71-63. In a rematch in late January, OSU overcame a 12-point second-half deficit to knock off the Bears, 73-64.

Guard Ethan Thompson (above), who leads OSU in scoring averaging 16.2 points per game, was the difference in both games as he scored 15 and 16 points respectively. 

“He is obviously an all-league player,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said in a Zoom call with the media. “And a big (6-5) point. He’s as big as our small forwards and he’s their point guard. He is really having a terrific year.”

And OSU’s size is pretty much an all-around problem for the Bears.

“Their size is the strength of their team. And with our team size has been a challenge. Per position, we have some mismatches,” Fox said. “They’ve been able to get some consistent play upfront, their five spot from a couple of different guys (Roman Silva, Maurice Calloo). And that’s helped them. They have a stretch four who is shooting nearly 40 percent from 3 (Jarod Lucas, 39.4). They have maybe the best athlete in the league who is a great offensive rebounder (Warith Alalishe). Their front line has been extremely productive.”

In their last game at OSU the Bears were just 14-for-28 from the foul line. That is a problem that has dogged the Bears. They missed 11 FTs in their last game, a loss at Washington. 

The Bears likely will not be at full strength. Guard Joel Brown, who missed the Washington game with a leg injury is still not 100 percent. If he does play it will be limited, Fox said.

And the Bears and Beavers might not have seen the last of each other, If the Pac-12 Tournament started today, Cal would be the 11th seed and OSU the sixth seed. Under the revamped tournament bracket the sixth and 11th seeds meet in the first round. 

After facing the Beavers, Cal closes out the regular season against Oregon (14-5, 9-4) Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

The Ducks had a five-game win streak ended by USC on Monday. 

“They are probably as athletic and complete a team as there is in the conference,” Fox said.. 

Oregon State Notes

• The Bears lead the overall series 89-66 and 46-34 in Berkeley.
• OSU’s only road win of the year was at Oregon, Jan. 23. The Beavers did not play a non-conference road game this season.
• Oregon State leads the Pac-12 and is 18th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage defense 29.3. 
• Alatishe leads the Pac-12 in offensive rebounding (3.18), and is second in the conference in rebounding (8.27) and blocked shots (1.68) .
• Alatishe has scored in double figures nine times in OSU’s 22 games. He did so against Cal in the season opener and in each of the last two games.
• Two players who were on the roster at the beginning of the season are no longer on the team. Alfred Hollins put his name in the transfer portal and Isaac Barnes medically retired.
• In seven seasons under Wayne Tinkle, Oregon State is 78-19 (8-2 this season) when leading at halftime and 87-11 (9-2 this season) when leading with five minutes to play.
• Jarod Lucas leads the Pac-12 and is fifth in the nation in free throw percentage at 91.8 (67-for-73); the Oregon State single-season record is 89.2 percent by Chris Stephens in 2005-06.
• As a team, the Beavers are shooting 75.9 percent from the free line. The program record, set last season is 75.1 percent. 

Oregon Notes

• Cal leads the all-time series 84-65, but the Ducks won the first game in Berkeley on Dec. 30.
• Going into the game at Stanford Eugene Omoruy and guard Chris Duarte average 16.8 points per game to lead the Ducks. Duarte is tops on the team in conference games at 17.4. 

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Omoruyi dunks

• Omoruyi has scored in double figures in 17-of-19 games this season. Going into the week he was  He is fifth in the Pac-12 in scoring at 17.2 points per game.
• Oregon’s top five scorers – Duarte,  Omoruyi, Will Richardson, LJ Figueroa and Eric Williams Jr. – have all played in the same game three times this season, Feb. 11 at Arizona State, Saturday against Utah and Monday at USC.
• Under coach Dana Altman, Oregon has the best record in the conference during the second half of Pac-12 play. Over the last 11 seasons, the Ducks have won more than 70 percent of their games (66-28) on the back half of the schedule.
• Oregon is assured of an 1th consecutive winning season, a program first. 
• Oregon leads the Pac-12 in steals per game (7.7).