Oregon St. @ Southern California preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 10, 2019 ) Southern California 74, Oregon St. 79

Oregon State holds a half-game lead for third place in the Pac-12 over USC and Utah heading into Saturday afternoon's Senior Day with the host Trojans. And for the Beavers to earn a split of their Los Angeles road trip, which began with a tough 68-67 loss at UCLA on Thursday night, they'll have to find a way to cool down red-hot USC forward Bennie Boatwright.

The 6-10 Boatwright followed his school-record 10 3-pointer performance at Cal by connecting on 6-of-9 treys in Thursday night's en route to 20 points in Thursday night's 66-49 victory over Oregon. That made Boatwright a combined 16-of-22 beyond the arc over two games and 24-of-39 (61.5 percent) over his last five contests. "He's certainly feeling it from the 3-point line," USC coach Andy Enfield told the Los Angeles Daily News. "He's shooting the ball as well as he has in his career. His feet are set. He's taking good shots." Oregon State also can shoot it, leading the Pac-12 in field goal percentage (47.1) and snapped a six-game losing streak versus the Trojans with a 79-74 overtime win on Jan. 10 in Corvallis in the first meeting this season.

TV: 6 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network

ABOUT OREGON STATE (16-9, 8-5 Pac-12): The Beavers overcame a 12-point deficit at UCLA to take a 67-65 lead on a Stephen Thompson Jr. floater with 1:22 to go but couldn't hold it as Chris Smith scored the go-ahead basket with 21 seconds left and Tres Tinkle missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining. Tinkle leads the team in scoring (20.1), rebounds (8.0) and assists (4.0) and finished with 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in the loss to the Bruins while Thompson, who is averaging 16.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, had 21 points and seven assists. Guard Ethan Thompson, younger brother of Stephen, is also averaging in double figures (13.3 points) and is also third in rebounding (4.9).

ABOUT USC (15-12, 8-6): Boatwright now has made 221 3-pointers in his career which is third best in school history and is 11 behind second place Lodrick Stewart (232) and 24 in back of school record holder Elijah Stewart (245). "I just want to get a win," Boatwright said when asked about playing his last Pac-12 game at the Galen Center against the Beavers. "Just enjoy the moment and hope we come out with the win." Junior forward Nick Rakocevic returned to the starting lineup against Oregon and finished with 17 points and six rebounds and is second on the team in scoring (15.5) behind Boatwright (18.5) while junior guard Jonah Mathews (12.4) also is averaging in double digits.

TIP-INS

1. USC is 23-4 at home since 1990 against Oregon State.

2. Oregon State is 15-1 when scoring more than 70 points and 1-8 when scoring fewer than 70.

3. Tinkle has scored in double figures in 59 consecutive games which is the second longest streak in school history behind Mel Counts (89 straight).

PREDICTION: USC 72, Oregon State 67