Men's Hoops Prepare for Ducks in Their Final Home Game
Feb. 23, 1998
STORYLINE: Oregon State (12-15, 2-13 in Pac-10) plays its home finale this week, hosting the University of Oregon Ducks (12-12, 7-8), Sat., Feb. 28. Fox Sports Net will televise the game live.
THE TENTATIVE STARTING LINEUPSOREGON STATE F--44 Todd Marshall, 6-10, 250, Sr., 3.6 pts, 4.6 reb C--00 Terrill Woods, 6-6, Sr., 5.5 pts, 4.1 reb G--32 John-Blair Bickerstaff, 6-6, So., 9.0 pts, 4.8 reb G-- 3 Jerome Vaden, 6-0, Sr., 10.0 pts, 1.0 ast G--4 Deaundra Tanner, 6-1, Fr., 8.3 pts, 3.1 ast OREGON F-- 3 Henry Madden, 6-7, Sr., 13.0 pts, 5.4 reb C--54 Flo Hartenstein, 6-9, Fr., 4.3 pts, 4.3 reb G--23 Jamar Curry, 6-3, Sr., 8.9 pts, 3.5 reb G--24 Mike McShane, 6-4, So., 5.0 pts, 3.4 ast G--14 Terik Brown, 6-1, Jr., 12.5 pts, 3.0 reb
INJURY REPORT: Starting guard Ron Grady is out for the season with a lacerated kidney and bruised ribs -- suffered in a collison with Patrick Femerling of Washington. Sophomore guard Corey Benjamin has an abdominal strain, and will be evaluated throughout the week, and senior forward Sonny Benjamin is day-to-day with a quadriceps bruise on his right leg.
OSU VS. OREGON: Oregon has won nine straight and 10 of the last 11 in the series. Overall, Oregon State has a 175-133 advantage. The Ducks have won the last three played at Gill Coliseum -- the average margin of victory has been 17 points.
STREAKS: Oregon State has lost five consecutive games overall, and three straight at Gill Coliseum.
SENIORS LAST HOME GAME: Four Oregon State seniors will be playing their last basketball game at home in an Oregon State jersey. Forward Sonny Benjamin, if available, will be playing in game number 105 of his college career -- he has been in the program five years (redshirted 1993-94). Forward/Center Todd Marshall, a transfer from St. Mary's College, will play in his 45th game as a Beaver and 82nd of his college career. Guard Jerome Vaden will be playing in his 55th four-year college game, and center Terrill Woods will be competing in his 54th four-year college game.
WE LIKE YOUR BASKETS BETTER: Anyway, it appears that way from the free throw line. Oregon State enters Saturday's game shooting .605 from the free throw line for the season, last in the Pac-10, but in the last four games on the road it has shot .724. The Beavers have shot 60 percent or lower from the free throw line at home in five of the last seven games. Over the last three home games, the Beavers have hit 44 of 87 (.506).
WE LIKE YOUR BASKETS BETTER: Anyway, it appears that way from the free throw line. Oregon State enters Saturday's game shooting .605 from the free throw line for the season, last in the Pac-10, but in the last four games on the road it has shot .724. The Beavers have shot 60 percent or lower from the free throw line at home in five of the last seven games. Over the last three home games, the Beavers have hit 44 of 87 (.506).
PAYNE-FULLY CLOSE: Oregon State is 4-10 in games decided by five points or less, or games played in overtime during the Eddie Payne era.
SLOWLY GETTING BETTER: Oregon State is showing signs of improving within the Pac-10 Conference, even though it has only two victories. Heading into this week's action the Beavers rank 10th in only one team statistical category (FT Pct.), as compared to finishing the year 10th in five categories last season and 10th in seven categories in 1995-96. Another way at looking at the improvement, in the two previous seasons combined, Oregon State finished fifth or better in one category only once, while it appears in the top five seven times to this point in the season.
RARE DOUBLE DIGITS: Oregon State has hit double figures for victories for the season for the first time since the 1992-93 season. Since the `93 season, OSU has posted records of 6-21 (1994), 9-18 (1995), 6-21 (1996), and 7-20 (1997). The Beavers are also looking for their first winning season since All-American and Player of the Year Gary Payton left the program at the end of the 1990 season.
CRASHING THE BOARDS: Oregon State enters game 28 of the season with a rebounding advantage of 36.0-34.0 per game, for a margin of +2.0. Oregon State is attempting to be on the plus side in the rebounding column for the year for the first time since 1985. If the Beavers finish the year at that 36.0 average, it would be its second-highest for a season since 1974.
RETURN TO SENDER: Oregon State has registered 90 blocked shots for the season, an average of 3.3 per game. Four Beavers have 10 or more blocked shots, including Corey Benjamin with a team-high 17, Todd Marshall has 15, Iyan Walker has 14, and Nick Greene has 12.
FUMBLE! Wrong sport, but the same idea. Over the last four games Oregon State has committed an average of 19.5 turnovers per game, while at the same time has averaged 12.5 assists.
UNDER PRESSURE: Oregon State has forced an average of 19.4 turnovers per game. The Beavers forced 32 miscues against St. Martin's and vs. Cal State-Northridge. Nine of the Beavers' opponents have committed at least 20 turnovers. Only four teams in OSU history have forced 20 or more turnovers per game for the entire season.
REBOUND! Oregon State's opponents are shooting .433 from the field this season. If that percentage continues for the year it would be the lowest since the 1968-69 team allowed a percentage of .407. OSU's field goal percentage defense is fourth in the Pac-10.
DUNK DATA: Here is a list of the dunks by OSU players during the 1997-98 regular season: Corey Benjamin (65); John-Blair Bickerstaff (24); Todd Marshall (8), Iyan Walker (5), Jason Heide (3), Nick Greene (3), Sonny Benjamin (3), Sasa Petrovic (1).
SCHOOL RECORD IN SIGHT: Oregon State is on school record pace for three-point field goals attempted. The current record is 467, but OSU is on pace to finish the season with 483.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE CLUB:
Here is a list of Oregon State players who have achieved double-doubles this season:
John-Blair Bickerstaff vs. Arizona 14 pts, 10 reb
Corey Benjamin vs. Hawai'i-Hilo 25 pts, 11 reb
Corey Benjamin vs. Arizona State 36 pts, 10 reb
Ron Grady vs. Cal State-Northridge 25 pts, 10 reb
John-Blair Bickerstaff vs. UC San Diego 10 pts, 11 ast
Jason Heide vs. UC San Diego 15 pts, 10 reb
WINNING DECEMBER: Oregon State finished the month of December with a 6-2 record, marking the first time it has posted a winning December since the 1991-92 season.
EDDIE PAYNE: Oregon State Head Coach Eddie Payne is in his third year of the rebuilding process in Corvallis. His teams have posted a mark of 25-57 at OSU and have an overall record of 184-165. Payne has previously been the Head Coach at Truett-McConnell Junior College in Cleveland, Georgia; Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., and at East Carolina University. His teams at Belmont Abbey posted a mark of 103-51 in five seasons; and in four seasons at ECU he was 70-72. Payne has also been an assistant coach at South Carolina, East Carolina and Clemson. His four-year institution season-by-season record follows: 1982 at B.A. (17-10); 1983 at B.A. (15-14); 1984 at B.A. (26-11); 1985 at B.A. (21-10); 1986 at B.A. (24-6); 1992 at ECU (10-18); 1993 at ECU (13-17); 1994 at ECU (15-12); 1995 at ECU (18-11); 1996 at OSU (6-21); 1997 at OSU (7-20).
COREY'S CLIPS: Sophomore guard Corey Benjamin is leading the team, and is second in the conference for scoring at 19.8 points per game...is out with a abdominal strain...has a chance to be the first Oregon State player to lead the conference for scoring since Gary Payton averaged 25.7 points in 1990...has equaled the conference high for the season with 36 points at Arizona State and at Oregon -- career-highs...the 36 points are the most by a Beaver since Gary Payton had 36 vs. Stanford, Jan. 5, 1990...scored 24 vs. Arizona at McKale Center...named Pac-10 Player of the Week for his efforts on the Arizona road trip where he averaged 30.0 points and 7.0 rebounds -- the second conference honor for him for his career...recorded his second career double-double with his 36 points and 10 rebounds vs. ASU...65 of his 185 (35 percent) field goals have been slam dunks...he has scored 30-plus points five times this season, the most by a Beaver since Gary Payton had nine during the 1990 ! campaign...has 64 career three-poo oint field goals, 7th for a career at OSU...shooting .539 for the season from the field, 6th in the Pac-10...7th in the league for steals per game at 1.9...needs 12 steals to break into the school's top-10 single season mark, joining Gary Payton, Lester Conner, Brent Barry, Mark Radford, Ray Blume, Eric Knox and Dwayne Allen on the list...has a team-high 48 steals...third on the team for assists with 56, and leads the team for rebounding at 5.0 per game (16th in Pac-10)...he is one of five Pac-10 players to lead their respective teams in scoring and rebounding, joining Carlos Daniel (WSU), J.R. Henderson (UCLA), Todd MacCulloch (UW), and Henry Madden (UO) -- only Mark Sanford (UW) and Charles O'Bannon (UCLA) achieved that feat last season...hit 10 of 10 free throw attempts at Oregon and 8 of 8 free throw attempts vs. Cal State-Northridge, matching the Pac-10 best for percentage...named to the Hawai'i-Hilo Holiday Shootout all-tournament team...had his best all-around game of t! he season, with 13 points, six ass ssists and five steals vs. Boise State...a preseason second team All-Pac-10 selection by Athlon Sports and The Sporting News...The Sporting News named him the
