The Star's Bruce Pascoe previews all of the game day essentials, from projected starting lineups to storylines and series history, ahead of the Arizona Wildcats' Pac-12 road matchup against Oregon State.
Game info
Who:Β No. 24 Arizona (11-4, 1-1) at Oregon State (11-4, 1-2)
Where:Β Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore.
When: Sunday, 8 p.m.
TV: FS1
Radio:Β 1290-AM, 107.5-FM
Follow:Β @TheWildcasterΒ on Twitter /Β TheWildcasterΒ on Facebook
Probable starters: Arizona
G Nico Mannion (6-3 freshman)
G Dylan Smith (6-5 senior)
F Josh Green (6-6 freshman)
F Zeke Nnaji (6-11 freshman)
C Chase Jeter (6-10 senior)
Probable starters: Oregon State
G Ethan Thompson (6-5 junior)
G Zach Reichle (6-5 junior)
F Tres Tinkle (6-7 senior)
F Alfred Hollins (6-6 junior)
C Kylor Kelley (7-0 senior)
How they match up
Oregon State's Stephen Thompson Jr. drives to the basket past Arizona's Ira Lee, right, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Corvallis, Ore., Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019.
The series: The Wildcats have won seven straight against the Beavers but it hasnβt always been easy in Corvallis lately. In 2014-15, the seventh-ranked Wildcats lost 58-56 at OSU while Deandre Ayton and Company needed overtime to beat the Beavers on Feb. 22, 2018, when Allonzo Trier had been suspended for the second time because of a drug test and Ira Lee had a concussion. Last season, the Wildcats pulled out a 74-72 win when Devonaire Doutrive hit a rebound basket at the buzzer. After losing three straight to OSU at the start of the Sean Miller era, Arizona has won 14 of the past 15 matchups. UA leads the all-time series 65-21.
This season: Oregon State will visit McKale Center on Feb. 20 to complete the regular-season series.
Oregon State overview: With one of the conferenceβs most unique trios β combo guard Ethan Thompson, versatile forward Tres Tinkle and shot-swatting big man Kylor Kelley β the Beavers have been a tough team to figure. They lost only two nonconference games and, after Colorado upset Oregon in the Pac-12 opener, OSU beat Colorado β and then suffered its first home loss of the season to Arizona State on Thursday, by six points.
While OSU has the 28th-most efficient offense in Division I, the Beavers struggle from the 3-point line and any place on the defensive end of the court.
OSU still deploys a mix of man-to-man and zone defenses, and will occasionally trot out its 1-3-1 zone, as it did in a win at Colorado last weekend. But OSU still has a mediocre defensive efficiency, allowing 98.9 points per 100 possessions, and allowing opponents to hit 34.4% from 3-point range. Over three conference games, the numbers are even worse: OSU is the Pac-12βs worst defensive team overall in efficiency and its three Pac-12 opponents have shot 43.8% from 3 against the Beavers.
However, Kelley is the nationβs leader in blocked shots (4.27 per game) and is second overall in block percentage, blocking 17.0% of foesβ shots when heβs on the floor, according to Kenpom.
Kelley is also an improving defensive player, averaging 11.1 points and making 58.1% of his shots. The Beavers also have more help inside from 6-6 Alfred Hollins, 7-footer Roman Silva and 6-10 Payton Dastrup, allowing Tinkle to spend most of his time at shooting guard and small forward instead of at power forward, as he did out of necessity earlier in his OSU career.
Already one of the Pac-12βs most productive and versatile players, Tinkle has responded from the perimeter by hitting 46.5% from 3-point range while combo guard Thompson averages 16.7 points and 4.5 assists. Both Tinkle (23.4%) and Thompson (25.0%) record the assist on OSU shots about quarter of the time theyβre on the floor. Zach Reichle, the Beaversβ starting shooting guard, is a generally well-regarded shooter but is hitting only 28.8% from 3 so far this season.
He said it
Arizona head coach Sean Miller gives guard Nico Mannion (1) a big attaboy after he drew a foul on his bucket against Oregon in the second half of Thursday night's game at Oregon.Β
βTheir offense is very good. Tres Tinkle, if heβs not the best player in our conference heβs one of them. (Oregonβs) Payton Pritchard may be the other guy that between their own talent and their experience, theyβre just really valuable players. I think that their 1-2 punch between Ethan Thompson and Tres Tinkle offensively is something that every team has to really prepare for. Kelley blocked a lot of shots last year and heβs doing it again this year, but heβs now a double-figure scorer, more of a dependable offensive player. When they havenβt been on the winning side β¦ it might be more their defense than their offense. β¦ They mix up their defenses quite a bit. Playing against Oregon State, when we have the ball and they change their defenses, itβs being able to get good shots and play our game on offense.β β UA coach Sean Miller
KEY PLAYERS
Oregon State: Tres Tinkle
The Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate is the leagueβs only player to rank in the Top 10 in four conference statistical categories: scoring (second, 19.9), rebounding (10th, 6.9), assists (10th, 3.7) and steals (second, 2.0). But among the very few things Tinkle hasnβt collected during his stat-worthy OSU career: a win over Arizona.
Arizona: Stone Gettings
UA forward Stone Gettings twists his way to a shot against South Dakota State. Gettings missed five games after suffering a concussion against Penn on Nov. 29.
Arizona coach Sean Miller says he isnβt going to change his starting lineup, despite having taken both Ira Lee and Chase Jeter out of recent games for significant amounts of time, but he has gone out of his way to say that Gettings makes the Wildcats better when heβs on the floor. Against the different defensive looks OSU will show, especially with Kelleyβs rim protection, a little savvy play and outside shooting from Gettings may be helpful for the Wildcats.
Sidelines
Dammed up
Oregon State was making a case for a potential NCAA Tournament berth until it lost to ASU on Thursday, having gone 10-2 in nonconference play and opening league play with a not-so-bad loss at Utah and an upset win at Colorado.
The Beaversβ weak spot has been their defense, which fell completely apart in an 82-76 loss to ASU. The normally poor-shooting Sun Devils, who hit just 30.5% from the field at McKale Center last week, shot 48.3% overall and hit half of their 16 3-pointers on Thursday at Gill Coliseum.
So what happened to the OSU defense, the constantly switching one with the 1-3-1 zone and other tricks?
Tinkle has a hard time explaining that one.
βWe basically have the same team we had last year and the year before,β Tinkle says. βItβs not like we lost our best defensive guys. Itβs gotta mean more to a handful of people. Itβs hard to guard for 40 minutes on an island. One guy can help, but it takes everybody.β
Tinkle said the defensive effort has been good at times but not consistently.
βWe gotta do it for the last 40 minutes,β he said. βWhen we get it going weβre really good. We have all the pieces and now itβs putting everything out there.β
Extended audition
Oregon State's Tres Tinkle (3) dunks during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Arizona in Corvallis, Ore., Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. Arizona won 74-72. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)
When Tinkle entered the NBA draft pool last spring, nobody had much reason to believe he was really serious.
After all, his dad coaches the Beavers and presumably might want him to hang around for another season.
But Tres said Saturday he was βready to move on.β He said he received good feedback from NBA scouts, too, but returned in part because he wasnβt completely sold on what he heard.
So Tinkle came back and, thanks to the Beaversβ increased depth up front, has been able to work on his perimeter game this season. Heβs averaging 19.9 points and 6.9 rebounds, though his assist-turnover ratio is below 2-1 (56 assists to 35 turnovers).
And, except for that ASU loss, playing a little more college ball hasnβt been all bad.
βI definitely think itβs working out,β Tinkle said. βWeβve had the best start since Iβve been at Oregon State so I canβt complain about that.β
Thank you, NBA
Arizona guard Nico Mannion (1) gets hacked by Oregon forward Chandler Lawson (13) on his drive and ended up with a three-point play on the free-throw during the second half of their Pac-12 game at Matthew Knight Arena, January 9, 2020.
After Nico Mannionβs final inbounds pass went into the hands of Oregonβs Payton Pritchard, Oregon coach Dana Altman could breathe a sigh of relief.
Two, actually.
Because not only did the steal clinch the Ducksβ overtime win, but it also marked the only time that Mannion will be visiting Matthew Knight Arena. (UA coach Sean Miller confirmed last week the widely known expectation that Mannion will be leaving after this season.)
Mannion had 20 points on 9-for-17 shooting against Oregon while posting three assists to six turnovers, while Pritchard had 18 points on 6-for-21 shooting with six assists to four turnovers.
βThey had a good battle,β Altman said. βI thought Nico played really good. Iβm glad heβs gonna be there one (year). Thatβs the advantage, having Payton for four. Nicoβs really talented.β
Numbers game
2
Eventual Elite Eight Arizona teams that lost at OSU during the regular season (2010-11 and 2014-15).
9
Points Ethan Thompson needs to reach 1,000 for his Oregon State career.
214
Points Tres Tinkle needs to become OSUβs all-time leading scorer (Gary Payton leads with 2,172 from 1987-90)
