Oregon St. @ Colorado preview

Oregon St. at Colorado

Last Meeting ( Dec 29, 2017 ) Colorado 57, Oregon St. 76

Oregon State and Colorado have fallen on tough times of late, both dropping three of their last four games to slide in the Pac-12 standings. They meet Thursday night in Boulder, giving one of the two the chance to start a much-needed turnaround.

At 4-3 and tied for sixth place in the conference, the Beavers are in better shape than the 2-5 (10th-place) Buffaloes. Still, Oregon State’s usually smooth-running offense has hit some rough patches of late as the Beavers have finished with more turnovers than assists in each of their last two losses and have shot 44 percent or worse in two of their last three defeats. Now they head back out on the road where they’ve won only two of their last 21 Pac-12 contests dating back to the 2016-17 season. Colorado, meanwhile, is home for four of its next six but will have to pick things up offensively as the team ranks 11th in the conference with an average of 68.3 points in Pac-12 play.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network

ABOUT OREGON STATE (12-7, 4-3 Pac-12): The Beavers split a home series last week against the Washington schools, but senior guard Stephen Thompson Jr. did just about all he could to propel his team toward a sweep, totaling 52 points on 20-of-35 shooting while pulling down nine rebounds and dishing out eight assists. Thompson is averaging 15.9 points per game overall, and joins his younger brother Ethan Thompson (13.5 points) and forward Tres Tinkle (20.3 points, team-leading 8.2 rebounds) in averaging double figures. The Beavers rank second in the conference in both field-goal percentage (46.9) and assists per game (16.0) but are shooting a conference-worst 32.8 percent from 3-point range.

ABOUT COLORADO (11-8, 2-5): The Buffaloes’ only Pac-12 wins have come against cellar-dwellers California and Washington State and they’ve lost their other five conference contests by at least seven points apiece. Leading scorer/point guard McKinley Wright (12.7 points, 5.1 assists) returned last week after missing the Jan. 20 loss at Utah with a shoulder injury, but due to injuries and academic issues, Colorado is down to nine scholarship players overall. Guards Tyler Bey (12.6 points) and Shane Gatling (11.6) and forward Lucas Siewert (10.6) are the team’s leading scorers in conference play, and the 6-7 Bey has even been better of late, averaging 15.4 points and 9.6 rebounds over his last five games.

TIP-INS

1. Colorado has won eight of the 13 meetings since joining the Pac-12 in 2011 and is 9-1 at home against Oregon State.

2. The Beavers are shooting 74.2 percent from the free-throw line, which is on track to be the program’s best single-season mark since 1976-77 (74.3).

3. The battle on the boards looks to be dead even with Colorado (5.4) and Oregon State (5.3) ranking third and fourth, respectively, in Pac-12 average rebounding margin.

PREDICTION: Colorado 74, Oregon State 71