| 28 February 2011
They weren't the best of times, and they weren't the worst of times, but the Beavers won one game and lost one game in their final homestead of the season at Gill Coliseum this weekend, topping Stanford, 87-80, and falling to California, 87-76.
Throughout the season, many writers and fans have wondered -- and written -- "Which Beavers team will show up today?" It's not a tale of two teams, though. The Beavers have been the same all season, struggling to put together solid halves of basketball back to back, playing awful zone defense, and looking confused on offense when the team needs desperately to produce points.
Notes
Man-to-Man Defense, At Last: It's been clear since the first exhibition game, when the Beavers hosted Western Oregon University, that the team's 1-3-1 defense was going to allow opponents to get open looks from three and at the rim this season. Come to find out, the OSU 2-3 half court zone looks like Swiss cheese to most teams, too.
Jared Cunningham told us back in January that the team is able to play man-to-man defense, but coach Craig Robinson didn't want to go that route. Why might Robinson be reluctant? Cunningham didn't know. We can only speculate, but perhaps he doesn't feel his young team has many good man-to-man defenders; this couldn't be said of the perimeter players, but it's possible that Robinson doesn't want to leave Angus Brandt and Joe Burton isolated on the block. This is the most likely reason I can come up with.
Finally, though, the Beavers players lobbied for man defense and got their way in the second half against Stanford. Stanford's post players aren't as polished or as big as other Pac-10 post players, so the risk against Stanford wasn't as great as it would be against a team like UCLA, USC, or Arizona -- teams with prolific scorers in the paint. The Beavers outscored Stanford 52-39 to come back from a 6-point halftime deficit, with several key stops coming late in the game with the Beavers playing man defense.
Against Cal, though, the Beavers moved back to the 1-3-1 and 2-3 for most of the game. You know the rest of the story. You've seen it all season.
Offensive Surge, Regression: The Beavers' 52 points in the second half against Stanford were largely due to the fact that the team was able to make stops, but it certainly helped to get scoring in the paint again. Joe Burton went 5-5 for 11 points against Stanford, and starting center Angus Brandt added 5 points on 2-3 shooting. Jared Cunningham (21 points), Calvin Haynes (14 points), and Roberto Nelson (12 points) all managed to find their way into the paint against Stanford, too.
Against Cal on Saturday, the Beavers were outscored 49-32 in the second half after leading 44-38 at the half. OSU's 1-3-1 and 2-2-1 trapping zones created turnovers in the first half, but their hot start was due largely to the shooting of Ahmad Starks from outside. He finished with 18 points and went 4-9 from downtown, but Starks went cold late in the game and had two turnovers on key possessions down the stretch. Lathen Wallace went 2-10 from the floor and 1-6 from downtown on Senior Night in Gill, and herein lies the problem: when OSU's points are coming from outside, and the basket gets small in the second half, it's tough to win a gritty game.
Why Nelson played only 6 minutes against Cal, taking no shots, is unclear.
Tempers Flare: Five technical fouls were called in the OSU-Cal game on Saturday, with Joe Burton, Jared Cunningham, and Calvin Haynes each receiving one. Four of the five technicals were handed out following a scuffle between Mark Sanders-Frison and Joe Burton.
This is to say, the officiating on Saturday was some of the worst I've ever witnessed in a Pac-10 game. While I won't put an outcome on the officials, and usually don't mention officiating at all, the Beavers took the brunt of the bad officiating on Saturday, and it contributed to the team's frustration in the second half. The crowd of 6,741 at Gill was roaring at the officials much of the second half, with courtside fans crowding the scorer's table during timeouts to scream at officials.
Fans booed the referees off the court at the end of the game. Somehow, an ESPN/Associated Press story reported that the fans were booing the Beavers off the court. This couldn't be farther from the truth. One more reason to shop locally for the most reliable sports coverage.
Arizona Trip: The Beavers travel to Arizona this weekend to play the Wildcats in Tucson Thursday night, then the Sun Devils in Tempe on Saturday. It appears Saturday's game won't be televised -- too bad, since it's the game in which the Beavers are more likely to pull off a road upset, more likely to play some man-to-man defense down the stretch.
Check back at Beyond the Beat later this week for more OSU basketball coverage leading up to Thursday's game in Tucson.
photo: daylife
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
