The Barometer Online

Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jeff Wick Oregon State sophomore Daniel Deane goes to the hoop in Saturday's Civil War. Deane is averaging 5.9 points per game for OSU.

This weekend the Oregon State men's basketball team will look to get back on track after a disappointing Civil War performance as they head to Los Angeles to wrap up the regular season against UCLA and USC.

"Our guys were really disappointed with the way they played," Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson said. "I didn't have to do any real motivation after that. Having said that, we got a very tough weekend but I'm happy with our mental state right now."

As far as the mental state for the opposition this weekend, the Beavers will be looking at two different obstacles. The UCLA Bruins are coming off a sweep of the Bay Area schools last weekend, and still have a chance for a share of the Pac-10 title. The Bruins will also be going for the sweep of the Beavers, as they were victorious in Pac-10 opener in Corvallis by a final score of 69-46.

"We are a completely different team than what they saw," Robinson said. "I think they're probably closer now to what they were back then. We're just light years different from the way we were, so hopefully that will stymie them a bit."

Although the Beavers are worlds better than believed to be at the beginning of the season, they will be at somewhat of a disadvantage on Thursday as UCLA lost to Washington State in their last game at home - a Washington State team that has drawn many comparisons to the Beavers this year. How often is it that you see a UCLA team make the same mistake twice?

"It'd be great if I could say we could mimic that and do the exact same thing," Robinson said. "We're going to have to grind it out against a team that plays grind it out defense, so it's going to be a different game."

While the Beavers face a potential conference champion on Thursday they'll face seemingly the opposite on Saturday. USC has imploded over the last few weeks; the Trojans have lost six of their last seven games, and it seems a lot of finger pointing has been going on in the USC locker room.

The Trojans will undoubtedly try to salvage their season on senior day against the Beavers, and also hope to be enjoying a nice dish of revenge from the intense overtime loss USC suffered at Gill Coliseum.

Continued...

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