After knocking off No. 24 ranked Arizona on Sunday Jan. 12, Oregon State Men’s Basketball team was 12-5 on the season and had high expectations as they traveled to Seattle, Wash. to play the Washington Huskies. The 12-6 Huskies featured two true freshman in their starting five.

OSU shot just 39% from the field and a dismal 17% from beyond the arc after a game where the team seemingly could not miss as basket against Arizona the week before. Most of the damage was done in the first half when the Beavers hit a season low of 7-26 shots and fell behind by double digits, leading to a game of catch up in the second half.

The Beavers came into the game with the No. 11 field goal percentage in men’s college basketball. 

All credit goes to the young Washington squad who came off back to back tough losses to Stanford and California. Freshman forward Isaiah Stewart led the way for the Huskies with 13 points in a team win that featured five players scoring at least 10 points or more.

Washington freshmen forward RaeQuan Battle and guardMarcus Tshonis had 11 points along with sophomore guard Jamal Bey. Junior guard Nazhiah Carter had 10 points along with seven boards to lead the team in rebounds. 

The Beavers made a comeback in the second half, playing a tougher brand of basketball than at first for the veteran squad of starters. The defense proved themselves but Washington seemed to hit every shot they needed to to sink the Beavers.

PAC-12 Player of the Year candidate, OSU senior forward Tres Tinkle scored 15 points, five points below his average. These points mostly came off free-throws as Tinkle went 11-11 from the line. Senior forward Kylor Kelley, who has been the key in the trenches this year, scoring 16 points while adding another two blocks to his stat line.

Both teams have hopes of making it to the NCAA tournament come March, as every game now coming down the stretch has massive implications on which PAC-12 teams will last and have the ability to prove themselves in the postseason. 

The Beavers have two strong wins in their PAC-12 resume, but also four difficult losses. They will get their chance to bounce back at home as host to UCLA on Thursday, Jan. 23 and to Southern California on Saturday, Jan. 25 at Gill Coliseum.