The Colorado Buffaloes start a very important three-game road trip Tuesday night as they take on the defending Pac-12 Champion Oregon State Beavers. The Buffs look to get back into the thick of things in the Pac-12 standings as tournament time is just around the corner.
The Buffs and Beavers are playing their second and final game of the season against each other. The two teams just met on Feb. 5 in Boulder where the Buffs dominated from start to finish, winning by the final score of 86-63.
Colorado shot 57.1% from the field and 56.0% from three while demolishing Oregon State on the glass. The Buffs out-rebounded the Beavers 40-23 and held a lead as high as 35 points.
Colorado’s bench produced 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting while chipping in 14 rebounds.
This isn’t the same Oregon State team the Buffs were accustomed to seeing last year. The Beavers enter Tuesday night’s conference game on a nine-game losing streak after falling to the Stanford Cardinal Saturday night by the final score of 76-65.
Despite shooting 50.0% from the field, the Beavers got dominated on the glass yet again. Stanford out-rebounded them 34-19 which led to second-chance points. Stanford committed nine more turnovers yet still won by double-digits.
Jarod Lucas is going to be a guy the Buffs need to zero in on. The guard scored a game-high 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting in Saturday’s loss. Warith Alatishe and Ahmad Rand also scored in double-figures with 14 and 10 points respectively.
Beavers forward Maurice Calloo sat out Saturday’s game due to disciplinary reasons.
The game plan for the Buffs in Corvallis will need to consist of taking care of the basketball and continue to push pressure on the glass. Oregon State has had a hard time keeping opponents off the glass this season so the Buffs must use it to their advantage. As long as Colorado plays a clean game, this should be one they win by 6+ points.