WSU men’s basketball (11-15, 6-9 Pac-12) will face Oregon State (10-16, 4-11 Pac-12) at home Thursday.

This will be the first meeting of the two teams this season. More importantly, this will be the first game in a while against a team worse than the Cougs in the standings and a good chance to jump up in seeding. Above the Cougs right now in the Pac-12 is Colorado, but they have the same in-conference record. 

While it is nearly impossible to catch the Oregon Ducks, who are next on the standings, it is very possible for the Cougs to secure seeding above Colorado by winning most of their remaining games. Moving up in the standings does not happen if you lose to teams below you. That is why this Oregon State game is so important.

The Beavers are coming off their best win of the season, a narrow victory over USC in which every single Beaver scored. 

That win came courtesy of the Trojans shooting barely more than 7% from three, making a single shot on 14 attempts. USC did better in most aspects of the game but it did not matter. As we have seen with the Cougs previously in the season, that kind of shooting makes it nearly impossible to win.

Sophomore Glenn Taylor Jr. led Oregon State in scoring that game with 19 points, followed by freshman Jordan Pope who had 16 points. This is how most of the season has looked for the Beavers, with Pope leading the team with 12.9 points per game and Taylor Jr. right behind him with 11.2 points per game. 

These two are young and neither is liable for huge scoring outbursts, but they are very consistent. The Cougs have seen success this season shutting down teams that look to one player to score a high percentage of the time. While Oregon State is not great, they have the kind of makeup that could see the Cougs struggling defensively.

On the other side of the ball, Oregon State has two different centers averaging at least one block per game. Chol Marial is one of those centers, a 7-foot-2 giant from South Sudan. The other is KC Ibekwe, a 6-foot-10 forward/center from Canada. While neither plays more than 15 minutes per game this season, the defensive presence that is offered by having a proper big man on the floor at any given time is very valuable and is something the Cougs have been trying to make happen with Mouhamed Gueye and Adrame Diongue all season.

The game starts at 8 p.m. Thursday in Beasley Coliseum. Those watching from home can tune in to Pac-12 Network.