On Thursday at 6:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks, Stanford men’s basketball will take on the Oregon State Beavers on the road in Corvallis. Stanford comes in at 12-17 overall and 6-12 in the Pac-12 while Oregon State comes in at 10-19 overall and 4-14 in the Pac-12.
Last time out: On Sunday, Stanford defeated Washington 81-69 on Senior Day. Spencer Jones led the way for the Cardinal with 21 points.
RECAP: Stanford MBB defeats Washington on Senior Day
On Oregon State: It’s been a rough season for the Beavers. They’ve lost three games in a row and just haven’t had the kind of season that they were hoping to have. They’ve particularly struggled away from Corvallis: They are 1-10 in true road games and 0-3 in neutral site games, making them 1-13 overall in games played away from home. Their lone victory away from home was in Berkeley when they destroyed Cal by a final score of 68-48. That was back in late January. In Corvallis, the Beavers have been decent with a 9-6 record. In league play, they defeated Washington, Colorado, and USC at home, so they’ve shown an ability to be a tough out on their home floor.
Jordan Pope continues to lead the Beavers with his 12.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while Glenn Taylor, Jr. averages 11.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. The two of them form a really solid duo. The problem is they don’t have much help and in truth, on a better team they likely would not be the top two players. This team needs one other guy to be leading the charge.
As a team, the Beavers average 61.1 points per game on 41.4% shooting from the field, 32.5% shooting from 3-point range, and 73.9% shooting from the foul line. They average 31.2 rebounds, 10.2 assists, 5.4 steals, 3.2 blocks, and 13.6 turnovers per game. They also average a -2.7 rebound margin and a -1.7 turnover margin per game. Their opponents average 66.6 points per game on 42.2% shooting from the field, 33.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 73.3% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is dominate the glass. The Beavers are not a good rebounding team and Stanford needs to make sure they control the glass and decisively out-rebound Oregon State. If they do, I like their chances to win this game.
Secondly, Stanford needs to keep the quality point guard play up. When Michael O’Connell is out there facilitating and doing his thing, that really takes this Stanford offense to a different level. If he has a good night and gets others going, the offense should be fine.
Finally, as an extension of the second key, Stanford needs to get their threes to fall. If the ball is moving well, threes should fall at a good clip. When Stanford is making their threes, they are a difficult team to stop because they have forwards who can stretch the floor.
Prediction: This is a game that could go either way. I could see Stanford winning this one close, I could see Stanford winning this one big, and the reverse is also true. I could Oregon State winning a close one and I could also see Oregon State winning this one big. This is a game that I wouldn’t touch if I was a betting man. That all being said, if I had to pick an outcome, I would pick Stanford to win narrowly. They’ve been playing a lot better as of late and they did beat Oregon State on The Farm 67-46 earlier this season. Stanford 70 Oregon State 67 is how I see this one going.
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