Oregon State 'still building' as Utah Valley visits

Field Level Media|published: Fri 8th December, 17:05 2023

Nov 22, 2023; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Oregon State Beavers forward Michael Rataj (12) looks to drive past Baylor Bears forward Jalen Bridges (11) in the first half at Barclay Center. credits: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Oregon State can extend its current winning streak to three games as the Beavers continue a seven-game homestand on Saturday by welcoming Utah Valley to Corvallis, Ore.

Oregon State (5-3) returned home from consecutive losses to Baylor and Pitt over Thanksgiving weekend in the NIT Season Tip-Off with a 71-59 defeat of UC Davis on Nov. 30. The Beavers followed that up with their third overtime victory of the season, outlasting Cal Poly 70-63 in a double-overtime marathon on Monday.

Michael Rataj's 18-point, 10-rebound double-double led Oregon State on a night in which four Beavers scored in double figures and five recorded at least nine points.

Oregon State went 0-for-10 from 3-point range in the win. The team is shooting 25.8 percent from beyond the arc on the season, ranking No. 349 among all Division I teams, but the Beavers average the 15th-most made free throws per game with 19.

"If we were a very mature, experienced team, yeah, you'd be very disappointed. But we're young, we're still building," Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle said of playing three overtime games in the season's first month. "We were without one of our more experienced guys tonight. I was proud of (Rataj), especially in that second half, for jumping in that starting lineup and being huge for us."

The Beavers were without Dexter Akanno on Monday for an undisclosed reason. His 12.3 points per game are second-most for Oregon State behind Jordan Pope's 16.4.

Utah Valley (6-3) comes to Corvallis, where Oregon State is 5-0 on the season, looking to score its first true road win in a month. The Wolverines beat Sam Houston on the road on Nov. 9, 79-73 in overtime, but dropped their two most recent road games at Charlotte and Utah Tech.

Utah Valley rebounded from Saturday's Utah Tech loss with a 70-54 victory over Weber State on Tuesday. Caleb Stone-Carrawell scored 19 points, extending his team-leading season average to 13 points per game.

The 54 points to which Utah Valley held Weber State marked the Wolverines' lowest yield against a Division I opponent this season. They rank No. 64 in the nation at 65.6 points per game allowed.

"That's really good defense by us. We worked on that a little bit," Utah Valley coach Todd Phillips told KSL radio following Tuesday's win.

—Field Level Media

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