Oregon State Basketball looks to beat Houston for a Final Four appearance
The Oregon State Beavers continue their magical run when they take on the Houston Cougars. Oregon State Basketball beat a solid Loyola Chicago team 65-58. Oregon State played really good defense while Loyola struggled with Oregon State’s zone and missed some wide-open shots going 5-23 from the three-point line.
Part of the reason Oregon State won the conference tournament and beat Tennessee is because they were red hot from the three-point line. The Beavers were 5-13 from distance against Loyola witch is about an average shooting day after struggling against Oklahoma State from distance.
Ethan Thompson was great against Loyola, he scored 22 points was 6-13 from the field and 8-8 from the line. In his last two games, he’s shot 11-24 and been ridiculous from the free-throw line going 23-24. Warith Alatishe scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds including three offensive ones.
The Beavers take on a Houston team who beat Syracuse 63-46. Houston rank’s top 10 in Kenpom’s offensive and defensive efficiency. Defensively the Cougars foul a lot but is number 1 in the country in effective field goal percentage. Offensive Houston isn’t a great shooting team but they do a great job crashing the glass ranking 2nd in offensive rebound percentage in the country.
I think Oregon State will go zone against the Cougars to dare them to shoot. You have to worry about Houston crashing the class since it’s harder to box out in the zone and Houston offensive rebounds so well. Oregon State shooting has tailed off in the last two games and since Houston guards the three-point line very well I think you can expect a rough shooting day from distance.
It’s gonna be important for Oregon State to get to the line they have shot an absurd 50-55 from the free throw line in the last two games. You gotta expect that at some point to level off but it will be really important for the Beavers to get to the line a good amount.
Next. Oregon State keys to upset Houston. dark
Oregon State had to win the conference tournament just to make the NCAA tournament and now they are in the Elite 8. If I have learned anything so far is that you can’t count the Beavers out. If they can get to the foul line and keep the Cougars off the glass they will have a good chance to make the final four.