Game Day Essentials: Game #12 vs Oregon State

Oregon State

Head Coach: Wayne Tinkle (11th year)
Location: Corvallis, OR
Conference: WCC
Nickname:  Beavers
Mascot:  Benny Beave

Line: Nebraska by 4.5

Rotation Depth: 9
Last time out: Beat Oakland

Nota bene:  

• Nebraska is 5-6 all-time vs Oregon St
• With the collapse of the Pac-12, Oregon State is now a member of the West Coast Conference
• Guard Nate Meidoff now goes by the name Nate Kingz
• This is the second neutral location game vs Oregon St in as many year. Last season Nebraska defeated Oregon St. 84-63 at the Sanford Pentagon
• Nebraska is looking for their first in-season tournament championship since the San Juan Shootout in 2000 
• Fred Hoiberg is 5-0 as a coach in Hawai'i, 2-1 as a player.
• This marks the Huskers’ seventh trip to the islands for a tournament and the first since the 2014 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic
• Fred Hoiberg led Iowa St to the championship of the 2013 Diamond Head Classic.  There is an infamous report that Iowa St made the team sleep in a ballroom before their flight home to save money.

Player to watch: Michael Rataj

The junior forward leads Oregon St in scoring, rebounds, and blocks.

Oregon St Roster

Roster/infirmary report

2    Guard    Ahron Ulis     6-3    190 lbs    Senior (Could be out with an ankle)

Possible starters for Nebraska

3    Guard    Brice Williams     6-7    214 lbs    Senior

4    Forward    Juwan Gary     6-6    226 lbs    Senior

24    Guard    Rollie Worster     6-5    210 lbs    Senior

34    Center    Braxton Meah     7-1    264 lbs    Senior

9    Forward    Berke Büyüktuncel     6-10    244 lbs   

Bench

0    Guard    Connor Essegian     6-4    190 lbs    Junior

1    Guard    Sam Hoiberg     6-0    185 lbs    Junior

23    Forward    Andrew Morgan     6-10    242 lbs    Senior 

31    Guard    Cale Jacobsen     6-4    195 lbs    Sophomore

12    Guard    Gavin Griffiths     6-7    193 lbs    Sophomore

5    Forward    Braden Frager     6-7    220 lbs    Freshman
8    Guard    Jeffrey Grace III     6-3    200 lbs    Junior
20    Forward    Justin Bolis     6-8    225 lbs    Sophomore
25    Guard    Nick Janowski     6-4    208 lbs    Freshman

35    Forward    Henry Burt     6-7    222 lbs    Sophomore

Out for year
51    Forward    Rienk Mast     6-10    260 lbs    Senior

Tourney Schedule

The Skinny: 

Oregon St was one of the losers of the most recent batch of conference realignment, ending up in the WCC due to their lack of endowment/stature. The Beavers both of last year's top scorers, Tyler Bilodeau and Jordan Pope, to schools in better conferences with better NIL opportunities. It's possible that it's been addition by subtraction for OSU as the Beavers have exceeded expectations and are 10-2. If you look at their current KenPom numbers, you can see similarities to their surprise Elite 8 team from 2021.

Unlike a lot of the other teams that Nebraska has played, Oregon St isn't really a one-dimensional offense. They shoot well from 3 but then again they work into the paint enough where they also score plenty from the 3. They do tend to turn the ball over more than average. Defensively, the Beavers have a lot of length which allows them to exceed on the glass as well as gambling for steals.  

Thus far Nebraska hasn't really been tested in this tournament. That could change against this Oregon St team that looks like it could finish towards the top of the WCC. Given this could end up as a Quad 1 win, this would look great on Nebraska's resume if they can pull it out.

Prediction: Nebraska 71 - Oregon St 66