Oregon St. @ Arizona preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 12, 2020 ) Arizona 65, Oregon St. 82

No. 21 Arizona is among four teams at the top of the Pac-12 conference with only four losses heading into the final three weeks of the regular season. The Wildcats, who begin the week tied with in-state rival Arizona State for third place a half-game behind co-leaders Colorado and Oregon, play four of their final six games at home beginning with Thursday night's contest with Oregon State.

The Wildcats also host No. 16 Oregon on Saturday night in another key game in a very tight Pac-12 race. Arizona was swept by the Oregon schools during their trip to the Pacific Northwest in early January, allowing the final six points in regulation in an eventual 74-73 loss to the Ducks and then suffering their worst loss of the season (82-65) three nights later in Corvallis against the Beavers, a game that Wildcats coach Sean Miller said his team was "outclassed." "That's the one game on the road inside the Pac-12 that I would say we didn't play well," Miller said at his weekly news conference Tuesday. "I didn't have a very good feeling after that game. ... This week we play two teams that have beaten us already, so I know that we have everybody's attention. Our fans. Our team. The game on Thursday is a big one for us. It's a team that really, really outplayed us, especially in the second half, at Corvallis." The Beavers enter the contest in a three-way tie for eighth place with Utah and Washington State after getting blown out at home by 17th-ranked Colorado, 69-47, on Saturday.

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: Pac-12 Network

ABOUT OREGON STATE (15-10, 5-8 Pac-12): Senior forward Tres Tinkle is in the running for conference player of the year honors, averaging a team leading 18.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game while also shooting 35.3 percent from 3-point range. Junior guard Ethan Thompson is second in scoring (15.1) and leads the teams in assists (4.2) and finished with 18 points and eight assists in the first meeting with the Wildcats. Kylor Kelley, a 7-foot senior forward, also is averaging in double digits (11.1 points) while pulling down 5.2 rebounds per game and ranks second nationally in blocked shots per contest with an average of 3.52.

ABOUT ARIZONA (18-7, 8-4): Miller said he won't be using the revenge angle this week against the Oregon schools after getting swept by them earlier this season. "No, somebody told me a long time ago (that) revenge kills you," Miller said. "You start thinking in those terms, it's not healthy in any way, shape or form. For us, what we want to do, especially as the calendar turns to late February, we just want to play well. ... We want to be the best team that we can be." The Wildcats have three players averaging in double figures -- all true freshmen that are projected as potential first round NBA picks -- led by 6-11 forward Zeke Nnaji, who leads the team in both scoring (16.6) and rebounding (8.8), followed by dynamic point guard Nico Mannion (13.6 points), who is also averaging 5.3 assists per game, and guard Josh Green (11.7 points).

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Tinkle has scored in double figures in a school-record 90 consecutive games, breaking the previous mark of 89 in a row set by Mel Counts.

2. Nnaji earned his fourth Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award on Monday after averaging 21 points and eight rebounds while shooting 60.9 percent in wins at Cal (68-52) and Stanford (69-60).

3. Oregon State's last true road win over a top-25 team came on Jan. 5, 1985 when the Beavers defeated No. 15 Washington State, 52-45.

PREDICTION: Arizona 75, Oregon State 63