Scouting report: No. 3 Arizona Wildcats vs. Oregon State Beavers

The Star's Bruce Pascoe breaks down the starting lineups, storylines and stats as the No. 3-ranked Arizona Wildcats host the Oregon State Beavers Thursday night. 

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Probable starters: Arizona

G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 sophomore)

G Dalen Terry (6-6 sophomore)

F Bennedict Mathurin (6-6 sophomore)

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 sophomore)

C Christian Koloko (7-0 junior)

Probable starters: Oregon State

G Dashawn Davis (6-2 junior)

G Jarod Lucas (6-4 junior)

F Glenn Taylor (6-6 freshman)

F Warith Alatishe (6-8 senior)

C Roman Silva (7-1 senior

How they match up

The last time: Oregon State coughed up 22 turnovers that led to 27 Arizona points en route to the Wildcats’ 90-65 romp on Dec. 5 at Corvallis. Bennedict Mathurin led the Wildcats with what was then a season-high 29 points (he scored 30 six days later at Illinois) on 11-for-18 shooting.

The last time at McKale Center: The Wildcats went to the free-throw line 34 times, hitting 23 free throws that represented 17 more points than the Beavers received at the line to make the difference in Arizona’s 70-61 win over Oregon State at McKale Center.

James Akinjo and Bennedict Mathurin each had 14 points while Kerr Kriisa made his first career start, doing so over Terrell Brown, who transferred to Washington at the end of the season. OSU's loss was part of a stretch where the Beavers lost 3 of 4 before turning things around, with the Beavers losing only to Oregon after then until they reached the Elite Eight.

Series history: Arizona has won its past nine games against OSU at McKale Center and the past four straight. UA leads the all-time series, 69-22.

What’s new with the Beavers: When the Beavers were picked to finish 12th in the Pac-12 before the 2020-21 season, it was a year too early. OSU finished in tie for sixth and then made a magical run to the 2021 Elite Eight but now is sitting in last place. The Beavers have lost 10 straight games and their only Pac-12 win came at home against 11th-place Utah.

OSU has the Pac-12’s worst defensive efficiency and worst defensive rebounding percentage (just 61.9%) while allowing Pac-12 opponents to shoot 36.9% from 3-point range and 57.7% from two-point range. Offensively things are nearly as bleak. The Beavers shoot the lowest percentage of 3-pointers to overall shots, but are just mediocre at scoring inside the arc. They hit 49.1% of two-point shots (sixth best in Pac-12 play) and rank just 10th in free-throw rate, indicating they don’t get to the line all that often, either. In their 90-64 loss to Colorado at Gill Coliseum on Tuesday, the Beavers shot 44.4% from the field but went just 3 for 19 from 3-point range and collected 13 fewer points at the line than Colorado. OSU made 5 of 7 free throws while CU was 18 for 22.

A long list of injuries and the departure of point guard Gianni Hunt haven’t helped. Hunt posted to social media that he was stepping back to care for his mental health, while the Beavers had just seven scholarship players available on Tuesday, also going without Dexter Akanno (hip), Isaiah Johnson (concussion), Xzavier Malone-Key (back) and Tre Williams (knee) on Tuesday. According to the Corvallis Gazette-Times, Tinkle was hopeful afterward that Johnson or Williams might be available for part if not all of the Beavers' trip to UA and ASU this week.

He said it: “They have some talent and continue to play hard. They just have had some tough luck this year with injuries and close losses.

“In the Pac-12, every team is dangerous and it doesn’t matter what they have done the last few games. We have to be prepared to play an athletic and physical team.

"(Jerod) Lucas, (Roman) Silva and (Warithe) Alatishe were cornerstones for an Elite Eight run. They have guys that have proven that they can win games at a high level. The key to (stopping) Lucas is making him work for every shot, hopefully wearing him down over the course of the game.

“Davis is very talented and dangerous.”

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— UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who scouted the Beavers.

Key player (Oregon State): Jarod Lucas

The Beavers’ shooting guard averaged 24.5 points in the last two games OSU won this season, and he had 17 with 5-for-8 3-point shooting against Arizona on Dec. 5. But he was just 2 for 12 from the field (1 for 8 from 3) against Colorado on Tuesday.

Key player (Arizona): Bennedict Mathurin

In three games against Oregon State, Mathurin is averaging 24.7 points on 63.4% shooting. And he’s averaging 21 points over his past three games, jumping back firmly into the Pac-12 Player of the Year race. 

Sidelines

Advantage Wildcats, for once

While the Pac-12 has scrambled to reschedule all its teams so they can still play a full 20-game schedule despite a rash of COVID-19 pauses, Arizona has often taken a hit.

Despite not pausing themselves, the Wildcats played only one game over three weeks because of COVID-19 issues at ASU, UCLA and USC around New Year’s Day.

They weren’t rescheduled to play any of those teams quickly despite apparent schedule openings (ASU on Jan. 1, UCLA on Jan. 6 and USC on Jan. 8) and instead were rescheduled to play all three teams after they had long gotten their rhythm back from any post-COVID-19 issues.

UA also had to play at UCLA on the back end of a three-game road trip through California (losing by 16), and had to play ASU last week before heading to Washington State and Washington.

And the Wildcats' March 1 makeup game at USC was officially rescheduled for 9 p.m. — meaning the Wildcats won’t get home until at least 2 a.m. on March 2, before having class that day and preparing to face Stanford on March 3.

While UA coach Tommy Lloyd said he had “no idea” the USC game had been scheduled so late in the evening, being as it is four games ahead of now, he did know this: That his team’s two opponents, Oregon State and Oregon, already had to play makeup games this week, with Oregon beating WSU 62-59 at home on Monday and OSU losing 90-64 on Tuesday in Corvallis.

“I think it is the first time (getting an advantage) but the trick when you get a break is you have to take advantage of it,” Lloyd said. “You can sit here and complain and act like you've been victimized all you want, but now the shoe’s on the other foot. So you’ve got to take advantage of it. Hopefully, we'll come out and play with some force and some energy and do that.”

Diverging paths

While media covering the Pac-12 have accurately predicted the league champion 17 out of 32 times in the conference’s official preseason poll, this season probably isn’t going to be one of them.

Because Arizona and Oregon State were picked to finish in a tie … for fourth place.

Entering Thursday’s game, Arizona is in first place, three games ahead of anyone else in the loss column while OSU is in last place, a game behind Cal in the loss column.

The expectations were not surprising considering Arizona had a new coach and a core of still relatively unknown sophomores while OSU was coming off an Elite Eight appearance.

But the Beavers lost standout guard Ethan Thompson as well as glue guy Zach Reichle, then took on some key injuries and possibly some chemistry issues.

“I don't have a great history in the conference, but obviously, I know what their team did last year,” Lloyd said. “They kind of caught fire, which was pretty awesome. And we (Gonzaga) were in the (NCAA Tournament) bubble with them. We were side-by-side with them for a couple weeks.

“I don't know specifically what happened and I'm preparing for them to play their best game (Thursday). That's where my mind is. I haven't tried to dissect their issues because we all got our own issues.”

Tinkle said before the Beavers lost to Colorado 90-64 that they were dealing with a “perfect storm” of difficult issues and after the game, when OSU cut the Buffs’ lead to just four points, he spoke of their collapse.

"Im not an excuse-maker, but we obviously got fatigued, mentally and physically," Tinkle said on his postgame radio interview. "We stopped running offense. We stopped moving the ball. We got very, very stagnant and then we got frustrated because of that and then carried it over to the defensive end."

Another Spokane bond

After Lloyd spent last week reuniting with friends from his 22 years at Gonzaga during a stopover in Spokane, on Thursday he’ll face another coach with strong ties to the Inland Northwest city.

Tinkle is a native of Milwaukee who graduated from Spokane’s Ferris High School and went on to play basketball at Montana.

Tinkle still has ties to the area, too.

“He grew up in the same neighborhood where I ended up living most of my time in Spokane,” Lloyd said. “And Wayne's sister was all my kids’ fourth grade teacher. So for sure, I know him well.”

After speaking about Tinkle, Lloyd was asked if he’s started to hear more often from other people around basketball or friends from Spokane, considering the Wildcats’ success.

Lloyd shook his head slightly and smiled.

“Believe it or not, I don't have many friends,” he said. “I mean, for sure you're hearing from people and other coaches, but honestly in the season, I think you're just so focused on your team and your group’s journey that that gets the bulk of your attention. There's not too much time for outside conversation and I'm not looking for pats on the back or anything. I'm not looking for that stuff.”

Numbers game

0 – Times Arizona has lost this season over its 13 home games (the Wildcats also won their final two home games last season to make for a 15-game home win streak that is the Pac-12’s longest).

0 – Times in Oregon State’s history that the Beavers have beaten a Top 5 team on the road.

0 – Games Oregon State has won in calendar 2022.