The Oregon State men’s basketball team suffered a 63-44 home defeat to the Utah Utes on Thursday night in Gill Coliseum.

On a night where they didn’t have good matchups down low, the Beavers’ poor three-point shooting haunted them. Oregon State went 2-18 from downtown on the night, not making their first triple until deep into the second half.  

“Certainly that’s the poorest we’ve shot the ball in quite a time,” said Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle. “We’ve gotta give them some credit defensively, but we missed some good ones that we normally make.”  

Oregon State found themselves playing catch-up from the get-go, falling behind 10-0 in the first few minutes. After the Beavers were able to cut the lead to eight with 11:03 left in the first, the Utes closed the half on a 13-5 run.  

“We’ve had enough games in this season to where we shouldn’t come out and not execute offensively,” Tinkle said. “I loved that we kept fighting defensively, but we’ve gotta come out with a sense of what works for Oregon State offensively.”  

Freshman guard Jordan Pope was the only player to score in double figures for the Beavers, finishing with 11 points on 5-11 shooting. Freshman Michael Rataj had an efficient game with 8 points off the bench.  

The Beavers fall to 2-8 in conference play with Thursday night’s loss. Up next, they will take on Colorado at noon on Saturday in Gil Coliseum.  

When asked how the team will turn around and prepare for Colorado, Jordan Pope was straightforward.

“Go back, look at film,” Pope said. “See what we did good, see what we did wrong. Move forward from there.”