ASU Basketball: 2018 Pac-12 Tournament Preview
By Trevor Booth
No. 7 Washington vs. No. 10 Oregon State
It’s the rubber match the whole conference has been waiting for.
After back-to-back thrillers that were decided by a total margin of five points, the Washington Huskies and Oregon State Beavers will meet again with the winner advancing to face USC.
The first matchup came in the form of a double-overtime classic. After Dominic Green of Washington made a free throw to tie the game at 94, OSU’s Stephen Thompson hit a deep stepback three over the outstretched arms of David Crisp at the buzzer to cap off the conference’s game of the year on Feb. 10.
Three weeks later, the teams would meet for the rematch in Seattle, with the anticipation behind the affair leading to the matchup being shown on ESPN2.
This time, Washington would prevail, as they made 23 of their 30 free throw attempts while committing just eight turnovers after coughing up the ball 19 times in the first matchup.
With both teams coming in at No. 3 and No. 4 in scoring defense in league play, expect the team that forces more turnovers and creates more opportunities in transition to emerge victorious Wednesday night.
Two players to watch in this game will be Oregon State’s Tres Tinkle and Washington’s Noah Dickerson. Both received All-Pac-12 First Team honors, and both dominated the two times each team met during the regular season.
Tinkle averaged 25.5 points, 9 rebounds in the first two matchups, capturing Pac-12 Player of the Week honors after the Beavers upset Washington in Corvallis.
On the other hand, Dickerson dominated the low-post in the two meetings, averaging 26.5 points and 8.5 rebounds to help the Huskies get Tinkle and Drew Eubanks in foul trouble.
The game will likely come down to which star player can emerge for their team in the closing minutes. In a game that’s probable to be close from wire-to-wire, late game execution will be as essential as it was in the first two meetings.
The Huskies and Beavers will meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. MST.