Oregon @ Oregon St. preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 16, 2019 ) Oregon 57, Oregon St. 72

Oregon standouts Payton Pritchard and Chris Duarte have been remarkably consistent this season, but last weekend was one they’d both like to forget. The talented guards look to bounce back from a rare off-night when the 15th-ranked Ducks visit rival Oregon State on Saturday.

Pritchard and Duarte were a combined 10-for-42 shooting in last Saturday’s 70-60 loss to Stanford, which held Oregon to a season-low 32.8 percent shooting and snapped the Ducks’ four-game winning streak. “It was about energy and who wanted it more,” Oregon guard Will Richardson told reporters. “They came out in the second half with a spark because they wanted it more than us. They went after the ball harder than we did, and they got rewarded for it.” Pritchard and Duarte are averaging a combined 33.9 points for the Ducks, who will play six of their final eight regular-season games in the state of Oregon. The final stretch begins against a dangerous Oregon State team that has recorded impressive wins over Colorado and Arizona but also fallen to Utah, California and both Washington schools.

TIME: 10:30 p.m. ET. TV: Pac-12 Network

ABOUT OREGON (18-5, 7-3 Pac-12): The Ducks’ frontcourt will be minus two players as 6-11 center N’Faly Dante will miss his fifth straight game due to a knee injury and 6-9 forward Francis Okoro will be home in Nigeria for the funeral service for his father. Freshmen forwards C.J. Walker and Chandler Lawson could see more playing time for the Ducks, who have been outrebounded in each of their past six games. Pritchard leads the Pac-12 in both scoring (19.6 points per game) and assists (5.8), while Duarte has scored in double figures in 16 of the last 18 contests.

ABOUT OREGON STATE (13-9, 3-7): The Beavers went 10-2 in nonconference play but dropped to 11th place in the Pac-12 following last Saturday’s 69-67 loss to Cal. “We feel like we have handled the best teams in the conference and slipped when we shouldn’t have,” senior forward Tres Tinkle told reporters. “We need to be locked in every time we take the court.” Tinkle averages 19.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists, while freshman guard Jarod Lucas provided a welcome spark with a total of 28 points off the bench in his last two games.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Oregon State has won three of the last four meetings and two straight at Gill Coliseum.

2. Under coach Dana Altman, Oregon is 173-20 when holding opponents under 70 points.

3. Tinkle needs 89 points to pass Gary Payton and become the all-time leading scorer in Oregon State history.

PREDICTION: Oregon 78, Oregon State 69