A lot of things have contributed to the Washington State men’s basketball team sitting at 1-15 against Pac-12 foes this season. Most, including Head Coach Ernie Kent and several of the players, will point to the fact seven of the team’s members are in their first season playing for WSU, which has caused a lack of depth and consistency from the Cougs.

With all regards to intrinsic issues, the Pac-12 is really, really deep this season, and the Oregon State Beavers (16-10, 7-8 Pac-12) are a prime example of why. Despite OSU being the No. 8 team in the conference, ESPN’s Joe Linardi still has Head Coach Wayne Tinkle’s Beavs hanging onto the edge of the NCAA Tournament Bubble.

While the Cougars (9-18, 1-14), have plenty of shortcomings on their roster, the 14-game losing streak they are on – the longest since dropping 15-straight in 2000 – is no doubt partially a result of the Pac-12 that could have 11 of its teams receive invitations to some sort of postseason tournament. The Cougs will take on this underrated OSU squad at 3:30 p.m., Sunday in Corvallis (Pac-12 Networks).

To snap the streak, the Cougars will likely look to junior guard Que Johnson to keep balancing out the score sheet and take the pressure off junior guard Ike Iroegbu and junior forward Josh Hawkinson. Johnson is averaging 17.6 points per game since he scored 25 against Colorado in Boulder, Feb. 11; a performance that nearly gave the Cougars a victory.

“Ike’s better in a speed game. So now all of a sudden you play where teams are taking your transition away and keep you more in the half court, Que rises up,” WSU Head Coach Ernie Kent said after the Oregon game Wednesday night. “He’s better in a half-court game.”

Johnson has led the Cougars in scoring in four of their five games since Feb. 11, including Wednesday night against Oregon when he scored 19 points despite fouling out with nine minutes still to go in the game.

“That was just the aggressiveness of the game,” Johnson said. “I mean, it was a couple, like, ticky-tacks, but that’s part of the game.”

OSU entered the week coming off of back-to-back road losses against California and Oregon, but the Beavers knocked off a young but talented Washington Huskies team Wednesday by driving the length of the floor in 3.3 seconds and having freshman guard Stephen Thompson Jr. knock down a buzzer-beater 3 for the 82-81 win. The margin of the timing was so razor thin, UW Head Coach Lorenzo Romar filed a protest with the Pac-12 alleging the game clock didn’t start on time for that play.

All conspiracy aside, the Beavers are led by Pacific Northwest royalty in senior guard Gary Payton II, who is tops on the team in points, rebounds, assists and steals.

Statistically, the Beavers have a couple team-wide weaknesses the Cougars must exploit in order to snap their losing streak. OSU is shooting 67 percent from the free-throw line this season – second worst in the Pac-12 – meaning if the Cougars can keep the game close down the stretch and hit their big shots, they should have a chance.

The Beavers are also the worst rebounding team in the conference, on average losing the rebounding battle by 2.3 boards. This has been an area where Pac-12 foes have exploited the Cougs this season, as they are on average losing the battle on the boards by 1.8 rebounds, tied for second-worst in the conference.

Returning to action

While there weren’t many positives that came out of Wednesday’s 76-62 loss at Oregon for the Cougs, one resounding victory was the return of junior guard Charles Callison.

Callison sat out the previous four games because of a concussion, an unfortunate break because he had been a fixture in Kent’s starting lineups. Though he didn’t create much noise Wednesday (4 pts., 4 asts., 2-8 FG), Callison said it was just nice to be back on the court.

“It felt good even though we lost the game,” Callison said in the postgame news conference. “That was my first concussion so I didn’t know how the process was going to go.”

Callison’s court vision should improve the scoring opportunities for Iroegbu and Hawkinson, who have been slumping in his absence.