Tip off 10 PM EST
Spread: Ore -13
o/u: 138
Odds Taken from Bookmaker
OREGON STATE
Last year was a rough one for the Oregon State Beavers. They finished with an 11-20 overall record, while going a miserable 5-13 in Pac 12 play and losing to Arizona by 9 in the Pac 10 tournament quarter finals.
Amazingly, Oregon State did beat three conference foes who DID make the NCAA tournament, and their five conference wins were all big ones: Arizona, USC, Washington…
They lost 3 seniors from last season including Calvin Haynes. The Beavers are rebuilding a little, on the shoulders of a strong freshman class.
So far, it has been 6’4″ junior guard Jared Cunningham leading the attack. The Oakland product is putting up 19.9 points per game on 49.4% FG shooting. Remarkably, he has already posted TWO 35+ point games, recording 72 points in back-to-back games comibined against Hofstra and Texas, both wins. In the two games, he shot an incredible 40 combined free throws and hit 32 of them. While those nights were standouts and anomalous from a statistical standpoint, any player that can score 37 against a major conference opponent is worth a serious look.
6’7″ sophomore forward Devon Collier is making a big impact, too. He has more than doubled his scoring output from last season to 15.4 points per game and is shooting a blistering 64.5% from the floor. In addition to the stellar offense, he is playing excellent defense, too, averaging nearly 2 blocks a game and 1.7 steals per contest. If the Beavers can continue to get big contributions from Cunningham and Collier, this 6-1 start could be no more illusion, and the Beavers did only lose by 2 to #22 ranked Vanderbilt.
IDAHO
Last year, the Idaho Vandals were a middle of the road team, posting a 18-14 overall record and a 9-7 WAC record. They lost to San Francisco by 8 in the CIT first round, and ranked 3rd and 4th in offense and defense in-conference respectively. This season may be equally as unimpressive. They have won 4 of their first 8 games, but have only faced one decent program so far (Washington State, which they lost by by 2, last game).
Idaho is 23rd in the nation in field goal percentage at 49% per game, and their offense averages a solid 71 points per game, mostly scored by the trio of Deremy Geiger, Stephen Madison, and Kyle Barone. All three average 12-13 points per game, and along with point guard Landon Tatum (7.5 ppg, 4.5 apg) they comprise the entire attack, though the Vandals do have 9 players averaging double figure minutes.
Geiger, a 5’11” senior guard, is averaging 13.8 points per game, which is his career high, and over 5 points per game better than last season, when he shot only 32.1% from the floor. The increase in efficiency is a good thing for Idaho, because they are going to need steady and solid play from Geiger in his last NCAA season to remain competitive with the other teams in the WAC.
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