1. Oregon State bounced back from its Friday night loss to Idaho by taking out its frustrations on Illinois-Chicago last night, torching the Flames with a 64.9% eFG in their 95-53 win last night. Sophomore guard Roberto Nelson had the second-best scoring game of his career, going for 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting from deep, while redshirt freshman forward Eric Moreland grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and blocked five shots. Prior to the game, head coach Craig Robinson called the loss on Friday an anomaly due in part to the shock of the death of OSU football player Fred Thompson last Wednesday. After last night’s performance, we’re a bit closer to buying that explanation.
2. While Oregon came away with a win Monday night against Portland State, they also suffered an injury blow in the second half when senior forward Tyrone Nared went down with a knee injury during a scramble for a loose ball. While the extent of his injury is not currently known, head coach Dana Altman said that he is expecting Nared to miss at least the next four games, taking the team right up to conference play. The Ducks are deeper this season along the front line and Nared is getting less than 20 minutes per game, but he is one of their best frontcourt defenders and a surprisingly efficient offensive player.
3. Washington State has been on a roll lately, and they’ve been doing it all without some key contributors. Senior guard Faisal Aden has missed the last three games with the after-effects of a concussion, Mychal Ladd has missed the last five games with a sprained thumb, and senior forward Abe Lodwick has yet to play this season due to a fractured foot. But all three of those guys are nearing a return, although head coach Ken Bone made it clear that each of them will have to earn back their playing time. In Ladd’s absence, freshman Dexter Kernich-Drew has stepped into a bigger role, while fellow freshman DaVonte Lacy has helped cover for Aden. But more than any other Coug, it has been little-used senior Charlie Enquist who had stepped up in recent games to spur WSU on to their four-game winning streak.
4. Washington may have left their temporary New York residency with an 0-2 record, but head coach Lorenzo Romar was able to find some positives in the trip. To begin with, Romar was very appreciative of the fan support his team received in Madison Square Garden, and proud of the national exposure his team has earned. Having played in the last three NCAA Tournaments, the Maui Invitational last year, the two games in New York this past week, and with a spot in the Hall of Fame Classic next year along with Ohio State and others, the Huskies are hopeful that their national presence will help them continue to get recruits from across the country.
5. In a feature piece on Stanford’s sophomore point guard Aaron Bright in the San Francisco Chronicle, some of last year’s struggles for the Cardinal were laid at the feet of some “friction” between last year’s six-man freshman class and “some upperclassmen who thought their roles were threatened.” Given that said friction is apparently gone this year and that the only player not back from last year’s team is Jeremy Green (last year’s leading scorer who headed off in search of an NBA paycheck a year early), one can read between the lines and consider the decision by Green to depart Palo Alto to be a classic case of addition by subtraction.

AMurawa (999 Posts)

Andrew Murawa Likes Basketball.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 at 9:00 am by AMurawa and is filed under microsites, pac 12. Tagged: Aaron Bright, Abe Lodwick, craig robinson, dana altman, davonte lacy, dexter kernich-drew. charlie enquist, eric moreland, Faisal Aden, fred thompson, hall of fame classic, jeremy green, lorenzo romar, mychal ladd, oregon, oregon state, pac-12, roberto nelson, stanford, tyrone nared, washington, washington state. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.