All signs pointed to an OSU win.
The Beavers were comfortable favorites over Washington State.
They were hot, the Cougars not so much.
But the Beavers played like they expected to win without much effort.
Big mistake.
Washington State 83, OSU 73.
In Gill.
“That was certainly not expected and a disappointing performance,” OSU coach Craig Robinson said.
The Beavers could not match up with the Cougars’ bigs.
Brock Motum picked apart the Beavers in Spokane, then came to Corvallis and dropped 24 points and nine rebounds on them.
That’s not all. D.J. Shelton (who?) had 14 and nine. Shelton was averaging five points a game.
The OSU front line seemed inept and overwhelmed by the Cougars.
WSU 40, OSU 20.
That’s points in the paint.
“Their front court had a great night and it’s hard to win that way,” Robinson said.
The Beavers had one of their worst first half efforts of the season and trailed 46-31. They never really recovered.
Jared Cunningham kept OSU in it with 33 points and the Beavers did make a little run late.
In the end, poor shooting (22-59) was too much.
“It is disappointing being our first game back home ,” Roberto Nelson said. “We had a good crowd and we didn’t execute as well as we should have.”
