Arizona 76, Oregon State 63 Beavers make a game of it, but Wildcats get the win
The situation was supposed to be hopeless for lightly-regarded Oregon State in its Pacific-10 Conference opener at No. 21 Arizona on Thursday night, but the Beavers made a game of it until midway through the second half in front of 14,351 fans at McKale Center -- and one guy who kept pleading, "this is the worst team in the conference! Let's go!"
With freshman forward Omari Johnson looking like the best player on the floor for long stretches, the Beavers (6-7, 0-1 Pac-10) led 32-26 at halftime and didn't start slipping in the other direction until the Arizona Wildcats (10-3, 1-0) put together a 12-2 second-half run fueled by forward Chase Budinger, who had 18 of his 20 points after the break.
Johnson, already showing signs of being an impact player, had career highs of 19 points and nine rebounds in only his fifth Division I game. He said he is feeling confident with his shot, and he is finally adjusting to the speed of the game.
"Any game we go into, we think we can win," he said. "I don't like losing, so this is a pretty bad loss to me."
If more of the Beavers had joined the party -- especially senior forward Marcel Jones -- who knows what might have happened against an Arizona team without leading scorer Jerryd Bayless and Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson.
Maybe the result was inevitable, considering OSU hasn't won here since 1983, but the Beavers might have made it more interesting.
"At the start of the first half and at the beginning of the second half, I thought we had them on their heels," said the Beavers' Josh Tarver.
"We didn't execute for 40 minutes. Maybe 30, but not 40, and that's what costs us."
What changed? Jones got into foul trouble, the Wildcats starting bumping Johnson around to keep him from his spots, and Arizona got much more aggressive.
"Things changed when Chase started attacking the basket and getting us in foul trouble," Tarver said.
OSU coach Jay John, whose team had played some pitiful basketball in the non-league stretch of its schedule -- including last week's loss to Montana State -- said he was proud of Oregon State's ability to gather itself and play a strong game on the road against a ranked opponent.
Interim Arizona coach Kevin O'Neill said all of the right things about the Beavers after the Wildcats had their home fans grumbling for much of the game, wondering why it wasn't an end-to-end blowout. Perhaps that had more to do with Oregon State than Arizona.
"I thought they did a great job tonight," O'Neill said.
O'Neill said he was impressed with OSU's ability to adjust to the loss of 6-foot-11 C.J. Giles, who was suspended for the Arizona game after being late for Tuesday and Wednesday practices.
It was horrible timing for the Beavers, who could have used his length and his athleticism to combat Arizona's 6-11 Jordan Hill, who had 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Asked what kind of impact it had on the team, Johnson said, "it was kind of disruptive, but we have to work with whatever happens."
So how much patience will Giles' teammates have if he continues to make life difficult for the coaches?
"It's on him," said Josh Tarver, "that's all I can say. It's on him. . . . we could have really used him tonight, especially on Hill."
John didn't think the Giles situation rattled anyone on the team.
"It's not like it was a surprise," John said. "Our guys were ready to play. We just ran out of gas."
John said he knew before the trip started that Giles wouldn't play. "He's late to two practices, so it's a pretty easy call," John said.
How can a player under so much scrutiny after his problems at Kansas, a player who knows his every move will be watched, just blow off one practice and be late for another?
"What's done is done," John said. "We go from here. We start over tomorrow."
Meaning if Giles can make today's 11:30 a.m. workout, he will play in Saturday's game at Arizona State. The Sun Devils beat Oregon 62-54 Thursday night.
Johnson said the Beavers aren't putting the Arizona game into the "moral victory" category because that is demeaning. "It might be a confidence booster," he said, "but we're still mad we lost."
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