Freshman guard, Jordan Pope, and senior forward, Dzmitry Ryuny, returned to their usual spots as the starting lineup after being on the bench last week against Colorado. Freshman forward Michael Rataj also returned from the bench Thursday night. 

The game started strong for the Wildcats as they started the night with a 3-point jumper by junior forward Kerr Kriisa, 20 seconds into the game. The Wildcats kept control of the court for most of the first half of the game with an 18-point lead, but that doesn’t mean that the Beavers didn’t put up a fight.  

In the second half, Oregon State came in with stronger defense and kept the Wildcats on their feet. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to close the gap; the smallest lead being seven points in the first half. 

“That hurt,” head coach Wayne Tinkle said. “We miss, they make it. We need to just keep getting them to believe, getting them to fight.”

The Beavers faced the Wildcats without junior Chol Marial as he has suffered a setback in his recovery from an ankle injury that has sidelined him for an eighth straight game. In addition to Marial, sophomore Christian Wright and freshman Justin Rochelin were both out Thursday night as they were managing knee injuries, as reported by Jesse Sowa of the Corvallis Gazette-Times. 

At this time, both Wright and Rochelin are looking to return for Saturday’s game against Arizona State.

The Beavers will play Arizona State at Gill Coliseum on Saturday at 1 p.m.