Cade Cunningham and Oklahoma State look to avoid being another victim of the upset-minded 12 seed Oregon State Beavers.
TV schedule: Sunday, March 21st, 9:40 pm ET. TBS
Arena: Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana
The Oregon State Beavers pulled one of the biggest upsets of the first day defeating Tennessee (70-56). Roman Silva was great today he had a career-high 16 points and was 8-8 from the field. Zach Reichle and Jarod Lucas shot the ball well for a combined 7-13 from deep and Ethan Thompson filled up the stat sheet today with 13 points 10 rebounds and 6 assist.
Oregon State continued their hot shooting from the conference tournament by shooting 47.1 percent from the three-point line as a team. They mixed up defenses against Tennessee in the 2nd half they played some 2-3 zone and a 3-2 even though they are normally a man team. That along with some very poor play from Tennessee factored into the volunteers shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 19.2 percent from the line.
Oregon State now takes on the No. 4 seed Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Cowboys defeated Liberty (69-60) even though Cade Cunningham struggled. Avery Anderson was fantastic. OK State won by 9 even with shooting 20 percent from the three-point line.
The Cowboys are led by Cunningham, the first-team all-American and likely number 1 pick in the NBA draft has been compared to Cunningham. Oklahoma State is an athletic team that is good in transition. It will be beneficial for Oregon State to try to slow the game down and try to play in the half-court.
Oregon State has mixed up their defenses this year and has gone zone. To try to keep Cunningham out of the paint and to force them to shoot I would expect OSU to play some zone and mix up their defenses again.
Oregon State has been hot of late winning 4th in a row and 7 out of 8 and they have been shooting the three-ball tremendous as of late as well. At some point, you think the shooting will regress but this is another game where OSU is gonna need to shoot well from beyond the arc and control the tempo.
Oregon State has been on a great run but I think Cunningham and OK State make a couple more plays and win
Prediction: OK State 73, OSU 69