Men's Basketball to Host Struggling Arizona State
Feb. 20, 1998
STORYLINE: Oregon State (12-14, 2-12 in Pac-10) hosts the Arizona State Sun Devils (16-10, 6-7) at 5:05 p.m., Sat., Feb. 21. Fox Sports Northwest will televise the game live.
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 is day-to-day, and senior forward Sonny Benjamin is day-to-day with a quadricep bruise on his right leg.
OSU VS. ARIZONA STATE: Oregon State holds a 31-18 lead in the series and has won two straight -- the only such streak for the Beavers vs. a Pac-10 opponent. The Beavers snapped a 20-game Pac-10 Conference road losing streak when it won at the University Activity Center earlier this season (Jan. 22) 70-61. Corey Benjamin scored 36 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the victory. ASU was led by Jeremy Veal's 18 points. OSU held a 43-27 advantage in rebounding for the game. OSU won last season over ASU in Gill Coliseum, 71-67, behind the 22 points of Corey Benjamin. Over the last three games vs. ASU, the Beavers have averaged 46.7 rebounds, while ASU has averaged 33.3.
STREAKS: Oregon State has lost four consecutive games overall, and two straight at Gill Coliseum.
WE LIKE YOUR BASKETS BETTER: Anyway, it appears that way from the free throw line. Oregon State enters Saturday's game shooting .607 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 four of the last six games. Over the last two home games, the Beavers have hit 32 of 65 (.492).
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 seven 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.
THE TENTATIVE STARTING LINEUPS OREGON STATE F--44 Todd Marshall, 6-10, 250, Sr., 3.6 pts, 4.5 reb C--00 Terrill Woods, 6-6, Sr., 5.4 pts, 4.0 reb G--32 John-Blair Bickerstaff, 6-6, So., 9.0 pts, 4.6 reb G-- 3 Jerome Vaden, 6-0, Sr., 9.7 pts, 1.0 ast G--4 Deaundra Tanner, 6-1, Fr., 7.9 pts, 3.0 ast ARIZONA STATE (stats prior to UO game) F--24 Mike Batiste, 6-8, Jr., 16.0 pts, 7.9 reb F--4 Bobby Lazor, 6-8, Jr., 17.3 pts, 8.0 reb G--21 Jeremy Veal, 6-3, Sr., 20.5 pts, 4.2 reb G--5 Eddie House, 6-1, So., 11.5 pts, 3.1 ast G--11 Ahlon Lewis, 6-0, Sr., 7.4 pts, 9.2 ast
CRASHING THE BOARDS: Oregon State enters game 27 of the season with a rebounding advantage of 35.8-34.1 per game, for a margin of +1.7. Oregon State is attempting to be on the plus side in the rebounding column for the year for the first time since 1985.
RETURN TO SENDER: Oregon State has registered 89 blocked shots for the season, an average of 3.4 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.
UNDER PRESSURE: Oregon State has forced an average of 19.7 turnovers per game. The Beavers forced 32 turnovers 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 .429 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 (23); Todd Marshall (6), 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 479.
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 25-56 at OSU and have an overall record of 184-164. 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, 8th 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...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 the season, with 1! 3 points, six assists and five stt teals vs. Boise State...a preseason second team All-Pac-10 selection by Athlon Sports and The Sporting News...The Sporting News named him the
