See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.
It’s “avoid any more bad losses on your tournament résumé” week in the Pac-12. Tonight we get Oregon State against Illinois-Chicago in Corvallis, and on Wednesday Eastern Washington will travel to UCLA. Here’s a quick look at both games.
Illinois-Chicago @ Oregon State – Tuesday, 7:00 PM PST on ROOT Sports NW (*)
Junior guard Daniel Barnes is the Flames' second leading scorer with 9.8 PPG. (credit: Michigan Exposures)
- This one should be simple; Oregon State is talented and UIC is terrible, right? It’s true, but these are excactly the types of games the Beavers lose year in and year out. In fact, UIC beat Oregon State two years ago in Chicago, and that Flames team was worse than they are now. UIC will need to shoot the three well to stay in this one, so look for Daniel Barnes and Gary Talton as the main targets of a tenacious Oregon State defense. They could both go for 25 in this one and the Beavers should still win this one, that’s how bad the pieces around Barnes and Talton are. If they are to steal the win, they will need to hit these shots so they can set up some sort of zone against the Beaver offense. Expect them to follow Idaho’s game plan and deploy a 1-2-2 zone at times, especially if the Beavers aren’t shooting well. If the small UIC players can manage to rebound with four players in the paint, this will severely limit the OSU offensive possesions and keep the Flames close.
- This one should be close for the first ten minutes or so, but after that I see Oregon State running away, literally. The Beavers are just too fast, strong, and talented for the Flames, and they should be able to win by just reaching 60 points. I think the Beavs hit 80 and roll for a 83-62 win.
Eastern Washington @ UCLA – Wednesday, 7:30 PM PST on FS West (**)
- I hate to throw this out so early in the year, but this almost feels like a make-or-break game for the Bruins. A win would mean a 4-5 record and give them a great chance of going into Pac-12 play 7-5, but a loss could prove disastorous and have players starting to lose interest. Fortunately, the Bruins should win this one, but they will have to defend the perimeter well. Gonzaga almost found that out the hard way in their season-opener against the Eagles, as they let EWU shoot a scorching 45% from behind the arc. Cliff Colimon is the main threat outside, as the 6’0″ senior is averaging 13.9 PPG this season. Lazeric Jones will most likely have the duty of keeping Colimon in check all night.
- This game could very well turn out like the Pennsylvania-UCLA game last Saturday. The plan should be simple enough for the Bruins, defend the three-pointers hard, make your own shots, and don’t make too many stupid plays. With their talent and speed, if they follow those three rules they will be victorious at the end of the night. Expect the Eagles to keep it close, much like they did against the Zags and Oregon, but I think the Bruins drain their free throws in the final minutes to get a solid 11-point victory.
The Official RTC Star System
***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2014
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game