Probable starters
OREGON STATE
G Jordan Pope (6-2 freshman)
G Dexter Akanno (6-5 junior)
F Glenn Taylor (6-6 sophomore)
F Tyler Bilodeau (6-9 freshman)
C Rodrique Andela (6-8 senior)
ARIZONA
G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 junior)
G Courtney Ramey (6-3 senior)
F Cedric Henderson (6-6 senior)
F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 junior)
C Oumar Ballo (7-0 junior)
How they match up
The last time: Arizona shook off three straight shaky performances, including a home loss to Washington State five days earlier, to beat Oregon State 86-74 on Jan. 12 in Corvallis. Azuolas Tubelis (25 points, 10 rebounds) and Oumar Ballo (15 points, 14 rebounds) both had double-doubles, while Courtney Ramey hit 3 of 3 3-pointers and Arizona shot 52.5% overall. The Wildcats also held OSU to just 38.3% shooting, though the Beavers outscored UA 48-42 in the second half.
Last time at McKale Center: Arizona had a sluggish first half, leading just 44-42 at halftime over an Oregon State team that had just seven healthy scholarship players, but eventually put away the Beavers 83-69 on Feb. 17, 2022. Tubelis led Arizona with 22 points, while Bennedict Mathurin had 20 and Christian Koloko collected 16 points and nine rebounds.
Series history: Arizona has beaten Oregon State seven straight times, won 12 of the past 13 matchups and hasn’t lost to the Beavers at McKale Center since former coach Sean Miller’s first season (2009-10).
What’s new with the Beavers: Still rebuilding with a young group after a disastrous three-win season in 2021-22, Oregon State lost to Arizona last month in the third game of what became a six-game losing streak. But since then OSU has split four games, beating Cal 68-48 in Berkeley and Colorado at Gill Coliseum, while losing to Utah at home and at ASU on Thursday. The Beavers led ASU 35-31 at halftime and trailed by just three points with eight minutes left before the Sun Devils pulled away, shooting 52.4% from the field in the second half.
Since facing Arizona last month, the Beavers inserted freshman forward Tyler Bilodeau into the starting lineup while forward Michael Rataj has been playing off the bench. OSU is also more often playing freshman big man K.C. Ibekwe, who had nine points and seven rebounds at ASU. Bilodeau and Rataj both had 18 points against the Wildcats on Jan. 12, while guard Jordan Pope is the Pac-12’s leading freshman scorer.
He said it
“Oregon State's playing their best basketball of the year right now. Coming into (Thursday’s) game, they had won two out of three. They'd beaten Cal, beaten Colorado, and they were leading ASU at the half, really playing well.
“Bilodeau and Rataj, those guys are as good as any young bigs in the conference, and obviously they both had great games against us last time. Then you look at their perimeter, and Jordan Pope is a freshman averaging double figures. Glenn Taylor and Akanno, those guys each can go off for 20 at any time. I think they have some talent, and they're playing with a little bit of a swagger. We've got to come ready to play.
“Bilodeau is a really good inside-outside player. He'll post up smaller guys. He'll take bigger guys outside. He'll pick-pop. Rataj is the same way. Both are very physical down on the block, especially when they have a mismatch. And they still have Andela, who's been there for a while. He's a big, physical kid and skilled down there on the block. Ibekwe played really well last night, so they hope they have some front-court depth that's playing better and better.
“(In beating Colorado) they did a great job changing up their defenses. They showed man, they showed zones, matchup, and that really kept Colorado out of rhythm. Offensively, Pope made some big shots. He had a sequence where he made four or five 3s in a short span, and that really changed the game. They do a really good job controlling clock, using the time of possession, a lot like Washington State in that regard. They want to control the tempo, and they've been doing that a lot since we last played.”
— UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who scouted the Beavers
KEY PLAYERS
OREGON STATE — Jordan Pope
The guard from Prolific Prep is a the leading candidate for Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, leading OSU in scoring while shooting 38.7% from 3-point range and 84.8% from the free throw line. In short, he’s the face of the Beavers’ new look.
ARIZONA — Oumar Ballo
Just in case Tubelis gets a little tired after logging 36 minutes and scoring 40 points against Oregon on Thursday, Ballo should be able to help. Both Arizona bigs posted double-doubles on Jan. 12 in Corvallis, with Ballo accomplishing his in 29 minutes.
Sidelines
Day at the Zu
Turns out, Tubelis’ 40-point night against Oregon on Thursday was just a nightcap to an eventful day.
Earlier this week, Tubelis’ mother, Valentina Tubeliené, flew out with some family friends from Lithuania who included a former club teammate of Tubelis. The gang did some touring before Tubelis prepared for the big game.
“I had a busy morning,” Tubelis said. “I went to breakfast at Baja Café with all those friends who came here from Lithuania. Then I showed them desert pass gates or something like that.”
Tubelis paused.
“Gates Pass? Yeah. So that was a busy day, and I just took a nap, like a 40-minute nap, and I went to the gym.”
The nap migh have helped. Because when Tubelis got to the gym, or McKale Center as it is formally known, so did the Lithuanian crew. The pressure was on for Tubelis to show them how things can operate there.
“I needed to play my best basketball, which I did, offensively,” Tubelis said. “She didn't see me (in Tucson) basically the first two years, so it was pretty cool. ... Now it's really cool. I think she's proud of me.”
Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa and teammates celebrate after a 3-point basket by guard Cedric Henderson Jr. during the second half of the Wildcats’ 86-74 win over Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore., on Jan. 12.
Flopper or victim?
After Oregon’s N’Faly Dante appeared to swipe him on the forehead in the second half Thursday, Kerr Kriisa fell to the floor.
It wasn’t clear whose force sent Kriisa down. Was it Dante? Or was it Kriisa, who has been whistled for flopping but also drew a technical against Washington State for what he said was a similar situation?
Officials reviewed the play so long that they drew boos, ultimately deciding that Dante only made incidental contact.
“I've been here already a few years, so I kind of know the officials and have a special relationship with most of them,” Kriisa said. “The ref said it wasn't that hard a hit. But in my mind, I think the nose is one of the softest, very sensitive spots.”
UA coach Tommy Lloyd said: “If they sit there for four minutes and watch something, I have to assume that they're making the correct decision.”
Hangover cure
Not only does Murphy have the job of scouting Oregon State for Saturdays’ game but he also has the job of getting the Wildcats to wipe away all that giddiness from Tubelis’ 40-point night and win over Oregon on Thursday.
It probably helps his motivational efforts that Oregon State is playing better than it was on Jan. 12 and has a little history.
“Last time I looked, every game in the Pac-12 is a big game,” Murphy said. “Oregon State made the Elite Eight two years ago. We haven’t made the Elite Eight since then.”
Numbers game
29 — Tubelis’ place on Arizona’s all-time scoring list (1,296) after he scored 40 on Thursday to pass Nic Wise (1,285)
36.7 — Oregon State’s 3-point shooting percentage in conference games, best in the Pac-12.
342 — Oregon State’s Kenpom ranking in experience, a measure of college basketball experience by each player, weighted by minutes played.
