The WSU men’s basketball team is preparing for a rivalry game against the Oregon State Beavers Thursday night, as they look to end a four-game losing streak.
Since their 22-point win over Portland, the Cougars have dropped games to Santa Clara, Saint Mary’s, Pacific and San Francisco. It has been a rough stretch for WSU, which started the season 13-3 but has since gone 2-6. Now at 15-9, the Cougs are in seventh place in the West Coast Conference, with a losing record versus the WCC.
The Beavers, meanwhile, are in fifth place, with a 16-7 record. Oregon State pulled off a pair of upset wins at home against Gonzaga and Santa Clara earlier this month, both teams the Cougars lost to on the road. However, in their latest game, the Beavers lost 98-60 in Spokane, in what was their worst showing of the season.
Still, the Beavers are a good basketball team that has been nearly unbeatable at home, where they are 12-1. Their only loss at home came at the hands of Oregon in a three-point game.
The Beavers are ranked No. 60 in the NET rankings, while the Cougars have seen their ranking slip to No. 96.
Nate Calmese should be back to full health, after suffering an illness that limited him against San Francisco. The Cougars are as healthy as they have been all season.
“Guys got a little time to rest up,” said head coach David Riley. “I think the energy’s getting up a little bit.”
Nate Calmese talked about the messaging and the mindset the team needs to break the losing streak.
“We just gotta come together,” he said. “just find a way to be more together…we’ve been trying to do it ourselves at times, and people are trying to do too much.”
WSU has pulled off upsets this season, with road wins over Nevada and Boise State highlighting their December schedule. Despite the losing streak, the Cougs believe they can still make noise in the WCC, but time is running out.
Ben Hayes of statsalt.com is predicting an Oregon State victory.
“Oregon State is shooting an incredible 40.2% from three-point range at home and the Cougars are allowing teams to shoot 34.7% from long range away from home,” writes Hayes. “OSU will take advantage and get the win and cover.”
At this point, with the Cougs out of at-large contention for the NCAA Tournament, every game is practice for the WCC tournament. However, playing at Oregon State will also reignite the growing rivalry between the neighboring state schools. The future of Pac-12 basketball includes both of these squads, and no matter the outcome, it will be another learning opportunity for Wazzu.
