The Barometer Online

Issue date: 1/22/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jeff Wick Junior Seth Tarver leads the Oregon State men's team with 20 steals. Tarver has started all 16 of OSU's games this season.

This weekend, the Oregon State men's basketball team will attempt to do something no team has done yet this season: come away with a win in Berkeley.

Tonight the Beavers will be in the Bay Area taking on the Cal Golden Bears, a team that is currently tied for first in the Pac-10 and hasn't lost a game at home all season. Playing at Cal could very well be the Beavers' toughest road test this season.

"Cal is a tremendous three-point shooting team," Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson said. "They've got great guards and they play very smart, so it'll be a challenge."

What could end up making it even more of a challenge for Robinson and the Beavers is that this past week wasn't exactly typical for the team. Robinson had to fly to Washington, D.C. to be present for his brother-in-law's inauguration. He flew back to meet the team in Berkeley yesterday. Robinson will have to attempt to put one of the most important events in American history behind him in order for his team to come out with a win in a very tough environment.

Cal has so far posted an astounding 15-3 record on the season and is 4-1 in the Pac-10, with the only loss coming against the Stanford Cardinal - the Beavers' Saturday night opponent.

With that win, the Cardinal improved to 12-3 overall and 2-3 in the Pac-10 after a tough weekend in Washington, a week during which Stanford came away with two separate one-point losses to both the Huskies and the Cougars.

For the Beavers to come away with wins this season, two things need to improve: perimeter defense and defensive rebounding.

In the Beavers' most recent loss, the Washington Huskies were able to only manage 29.4 percent from the 3-point stripe on 5-17 shooting. However, those misses were more often than not gobbled up on the boards by the Washington frontcourt and put back up as part of the 26 second-chance points scored by the Huskies.

Unlike Washington, Cal is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the conference, something Coach Robinson said would be hard not to think about, even during the historic inaugural event.

Continued...

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