Beavers Look For Weekend Split In First-Ever Pac-12 Tilt With Utes
Feb. 3, 2012
THE GAME: Oregon State (14-8, 4-6 Pac-12) goes for the weekend split when it plays its first-ever Pac-12 game against the Utah Utes (5-17, 2-8) at 3 p.m. MT (2 p.m. PT) on Saturday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. TELEVISION: The game will not be televised. The game will be streamed live on utahutes.com. RADIO: The game will air live on Beaver Sports Radio Network with Mike Parker calling the action. It can also be heard on Sirius 94 and XM 192. ONLINE: Live updates are available by visiting osubeavers.com and clicking on Gametracker. SOCIAL MEDIA: Live updates will be available on Twitter and Facebook. vs. UTAH: Oregon State and Utah meet for the 20th time in history with the Utes holding a 12-7 advantage, including a 9-0 record in Salt Lake City. Utah has a two-game win streak in the series, after winning 87-77 on Dec. 26, 1999 at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake and 69-61 on Dec. 20, 1997 at the Rose Garden in Portland. Oregon State's last win in the series came in 1983 when the Beavers won 62-49 on Dec. 16 at Gill Coliseum. QUICKLY: In national statistics, Oregon State is sixth in scoring (81.4), tied for eighth in assists (17.1), tied for ninth in free throws made (411), sixth in free throws attempted (611) and third in steals (10.05) ... Jared Cunningham leads the Pac-12 in scoring (17.9) and steals (2.8, third in the nation) ... Cunningham became the 36th Oregon State player to score 1,000 career points ... Cunningham has a steal in 24 consecutive games dating back to last season to tie him with Dwayne Allen for the third longest streak in school history ... Devon Collier (.631) and Angus Brandt (.559) are first and fifth, respectively, in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage ... Eric Moreland set the Oregon State freshman blocked shot record and is fifth on the school's freshman rebounding list ... Ahmad Starks has made a three-pointer in 19 consecutive games, the fourth longest streak in school history ... Joe Burton leads the Pac-12 in field goal percentage (.616) in conference games ... Athletic trainer Tom Fregoso makes his return to his alma mater. PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE YEAR? HISTORY SAYS YES: Jared Cunningham leads the Pac-12 in scoring (17.9) and steals (2.8) and could become just the sixth player to lead the conference in both categories since they started keeping steals statistics in 1978. All five players who led the conference in scoring and steals were named Pac-10 Player of the Year that season. Players to Lead the Pac-12 in Scoring and Steals
OFFENSIVELY: Oregon State is first in the Pac-12 and sixth in the nation in scoring at 81.4 points per game. The Beavers have NEVER led the conference in scoring (team statistics began in 1959-60). Oregon State's highest scoring average in a full season was 78.4 points per game in 1989-90. NCAA Division I Team Points Per Game
MORE OFFENSIVE RANKINGS: In addition to leading the Pac-12 in scoring, Oregon State is first in assists (17.1) and second in field goal percentage (.480). The 17.1 assists per game are tied for the eighth best average in the nation and the Beavers' best since 1991-92 (17.7). Oregon State also leads the conference in free throws made (411, tied for ninth in the nation) and free throws attempted (601, fifth in the nation). 100+ SCORING GAMES: Oregon State has scored 100 or more points three times this season, matching a team record for 100-point games in a season that had previously been accomplished in 1978-79, 1979-80 and 1988-89. 90+ SCORING GAMES: Oregon State has scored 90 or more points in a school-record eight games this season (1979-80 and 1988-89 teams did it six times). The Beavers scored at least 90 points in four consecutive games for just the second time in school history to equal the 1980-81 team and scored 90 or more points in consecutive conference games (92 vs. California, 101 vs. Stanford) for the first time since 1978-79 (97 vs. Arizona State, 116 vs. Arizona). 80+ SCORING GAMES: Oregon State has scored 80 or more points in 12 games this season, including streaks of four consecutive games on two occasions (OSU hadn't scored 80 or more points in four consecutive games since 1989-90). The Beavers scored 80+ points 10 times in Robinson's first three years and are now 19-3 under his watch when it happens, including a 10-2 record this season. LARGE MARGIN VICTORIES: Oregon State has notched eight wins by at least 20 points, the most in a season since the 1981-82 team did it 10 times en route to a 25-5 record and Pac-10 title. DEFENSIVELY: Oregon State leads the Pac-12 and is third in the nation in steals at 10.05 per game. The Beavers led the conference in steals last season (9.5, fifth in the nation) and in 2009-10 (8.2). Individually, an Oregon State player has led the conference in steals the past two seasons with Jared Cunningham (2.8) in 2010-11 and Seth Tarver (2.2) in 2009-10. NCAA Division I Team Steals Per Game
DEFENSIVELY II: Oregon State is second in the Pac-12 in blocked shots at 4.5 per game (UCLA is first at 4.7). The Beavers led the conference in blocks twice since they started keeping the statistic in 1978 (3.9 in 2004-05, 4.7 in 2005-06). DEFENSIVELY III: Oregon State has forced a Pac-12 best 402 turnovers (18.3 per game) this season, including 20 or more turnovers in eight games. The Beavers have fewer turnovers than their opponent in 18 of their 22 games this season and are second in the Pac-12 with a +3.8 turnover margin. MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS: The Beavers are outscoring their opponent in every specialty statistic, including points off turnovers (495-309), second chance points (287-274), points in the paint (814-652), fast break points (234-123) and bench scoring (444-441). STARTING FIVE: Oregon State has used three different starting lineups this season, including the current lineup of Ahmad Starks, Jared Cunningham, Joe Burton, Devon Collier and Angus Brandt in the last two games and the first 14 games of the season. The Beavers used 11 different starting lineups last season, including eight different groups through the first 23 games. JARED MOVING UP THE LIST: Jared Cunningham is third in the nation at 2.77 steals per game with 61 on the season. He has 189 in his career and moved into fourth on Oregon State's career steals list. Cunningham has a steal in all 22 games this season and has a consecutive game streak of 24 games dating back to last season. Oregon State Career Steals List
Consecutive Games With A Steal By An Oregon State Player
JARED FROM THE STRIPE: Jared Cunningham has a knack for getting to the stripe as he's tied for fifth in the nation in free throws made (140) and second in free throws attempted (184) to lead the Pac-12 in both categories by a wide margin. He holds six different Oregon State free throw records and is moving up the school's career lists in both makes and attempts. Oregon State Career Free Throws Made List
Oregon State Career Free Throws Attempted List
STARKS FROM DEEP: Ahmad Starks has knocked down 38 three-pointers the past 13 games, including a career-best five three-pointers in four of those games. He leads the team in three-pointers made (53) and attempted (144) after doing the same last season as a freshman (42-for-130). He has knocked down a triple in 21 of the 22 games, including one in 19 consecutive games, and has made two or more in 15 games. Oregon State Sophomore Three-Pointers Made List
Consecutive Games With A Three-Pointer By An Oregon State Player
STARKS FROM THE STRIPE: Ahmad Starks had a streak of 20 consecutive free throws made end against Washington State, but has made 33-of-36 (91.7 percent) this season after knocking down 24-of-28 (85.7 percent) last season. STARKS STEALING: Ahmad Starks has 42 steals this season, after coming away with 18 all of last season, and is tied for second in the Pac-12 at 1.9 per game. The 42 steals is the 10th most by a sophomore in Oregon State history (Cunningham leads the list with 85). BLOCK PARTY: Eric Moreland (1.6) and Devon Collier (1.3) are tied for first and seventh, respectively, in the Pac-12 in blocked shots per game. Moreland has already crushed Collier's Oregon State freshman blocked shots record with 36 thus far, including six swats against Stanford to tie a single-game school record. Collier has 27 this season, after setting the frosh record with 23 last season, and is fourth on the Oregon State sophomore list. Oregon State Sophomore Blocked Shots List
Oregon State Freshman Blocked Shots List
COLLIER SCORING: Devon Collier has scored in double-figures in 16 games this season, including a career-high 25 points against Hofstra. He led the team in scoring against Vanderbilt and Towson and scored 20-plus points in back-to-back games against Arizona State and UCLA, accomplishing both for the first time in his career. He leads the Pac-12 in field goal percentage at 63.1 percent (106-of-168) and has made 50 percent of his shots or better in 19 of the 22 games. MORELAND CRASHING THE BOARDS: Eric Moreland leads the Beavers and is fifth in the Pac-12 in rebounding at 6.8 per game. He has led the Beavers in rebounding in nine games, including double-figures in six of those, and has a team-high two double-doubles this season. He is also moving up the Oregon State freshman rebounding list. Oregon State Freshman Rebounding List
EVERY SHOT IN THE BAG: Angus Brandt is fifth in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage at 55.9 percent (76-of-136) and makes shots in a variety of ways, including right-handed and left-handed, inside and out. He scored in double-figures in four consecutive games, the longest streak of his career, including a career-best 21 against Howard. He is also shooting 47.2 percent (17-of-36) from three-point land, the best percentage on the team of anyone with more than two attempts. DOING EVERYTHING ON THE COURT: The versatile Joe Burton does everything on the court to help the team. He has led the team in scoring twice, rebounding five times, assists seven times (with a career-high 11 dimes), steals three times and blocked shots four times. He is first in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage in conference games at 61.6 percent (45-of-73) and is 13th in rebounding (6.0) and tied for 13th in assists (3.0) in all games. ROBERTO OFF THE BENCH: Roberto Nelson provides an offensive spark off the bench and usually does it in dramatic ways. He hit three-pointers on back-to-back-to-back possessions against Illinois-Chicago and made back-to-back three-balls against Stanford with only one shoe on. After starting the season 3-for-13 from beyond the arc, he has made 27-of-68 (39.7 percent) three-point attempts since. BACKCOURT HELP: Challe Barton has played in 21 games this season to provide a rest for the starting backcourt of Jared Cunningham and Ahmad Starks. The true freshman from Sweden has also played solid defense throughout the season. FROM WALK-ON TO THREE-TIME TEAM CAPTAIN: Craig Robinson can't remember another playing doing it in college basketball history, but senior forward Kevin McShane joined the program as a walk-on and will leave it as a three-time team captain. He does all of the little things on the court to help the Beavers that don't always show up in the box score and was provided a scholarship before the season for his senior campaign. "FIRST TIME SINCE" AND "MOST SINCE" NOTES: Oregon State has several "first time since" and "most since" notes this season that are included in the above copy. Here are some others: PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS: Jared Cunningham (Nov. 14-20 games and Jan. 23-29 games) and Ahmad Starks (Dec. 12-18 games) have been honored as the Pac-12 Player of the Week this season. It's the first time since 1991-92 that Oregon State had two players named the conference's player of the week in the same season and Cunningham became the first Beaver since David Lucas in 2005 to win it twice in the same season. RIGHT ON TRACK: If you compare Craig Robinson's first three years to Hall of Famers Slats Gill and Ralph Miller, you realize he's right on track to a very successful career with the Beavers. Gill and Miller each won 45 games in their first three seasons at Oregon State, while Robinson had 43 wins. Gill won 12 games in his fourth season and had 57 wins through four seasons before finishing with 599 in his 36-year career. Miller won 13 games in year four and had 58 in four seasons before retiring with 359 wins in 19 seasons. To do the math, if Robinson wins 16 games this year he'll have more after four seasons than the two coaching legends. 2012-13 RECRUITING CLASS: Langston Morris-Walker, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound small forward from Berkeley, Calif., Jarmal Reid, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound small forward from Decatur, Ga., and Maika Ostling, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound center from Dayton, Ore., all signed a National Letter of Intent on Nov. 9 to play for the Beavers next season. Morris-Walker is ranked the 29th best small forward and 146th best player in the nation by Rivals.com. Reid is ranked 73rd on the ESPNU Classic of 2012 with an 88 rating and the 52nd best small forward in the nation by ESPN.com. Ostling is rated the 30th best center in the nation by ESPN.com. PAC-12 SCHEDULE: With the start of the Pac-12, the Beavers will play Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and USC only one time each this season. Oregon State will play the Arizona schools on the road and the Los Angeles schools at home. The Beavers will play everyone else in the conference twice, including new members Colorado and Utah. BEAVER SPORTS TALK: "Beaver Sports Talk", a weekly statewide call-in show, takes place every Tuesday during the season, and will feature Oregon State men's basketball head coach Craig Robinson and Mike Parker. The show is live from McMenamins Brewpub on Monroe Street in Corvallis from 7-8 p.m. and airs on most of the Beaver Sports Radio Network stations and is streamed live on Beaver Nation Online at osubeavers.com. BEAVERS ALL-ACCESS: ROOT SPORTS will again air the popular magazine show tentatively on Wednesday nights during the season. The show will also be replayed several times each week on FSN's ROOT SPORTS, a part of the DIRECTV Sports Networks that comprises three regional sports networks that reach more than 8.5 million viewers across 17 states. Through its subsidiaries and affiliated companies in the United States, Brazil, Mexico and other countries in Latin America, DIRECTV, the world's most popular television service, serves more than 18.4 million households. BEAVER NATION ONLINE: The subspan style=visibility:hiddenion-based site within osubeavers.com offers exclusive interviews, highlights, webcasts and special features from Oregon State coaches and players during the year. More than 500 videos are added to Beaver Nation Online during the year, including more than 40 live baseball games, game replays, weekly and postgame press conferences, special features, highlights, classic games and much more. Support Oregon State University Athletics by making your tax deductible donation to the Beaver Athletic Student Fund. For more information follow this link or call 541-737-2370. Former Student-Athletes are invited to join the Varsity O Facebook Page for upcoming Alumni events. Follow Oregon State Athletics On YouTube.
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