The Oregon State Beavers have not won a road game against the No. 11 Arizona State Sun Devils since 2007. Will their run of misfortune in Tempe end this Saturday? Arizona State is tough to beat in the desert, though. Read on for a detailed preview of this game below. Register to bet and wager with your pick.
Oregon State Beavers vs. Arizona State Sun Devils College Basketball Game on January 13, 2018
The Beavers’ defense will be put on an acid test by the high-scoring Arizona State squad. Oregon State has the best defense in the Pac-12 with opponents averaging just 68.6 points per game so far this season. Expect the Beavers to pressure Arizona State’s ball carriers in this game, as they are second in the conference in steals with 7.3 per contest.
That said, the priority for them is to stop the Sun Devils from getting their rhythm from long range. While Arizona State is second in the Pac-12 with 9.5 three-pointers per game, it sometimes shoot itself in the foot by being overly dependent on the three-point shot. In a recent loss to the Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State went 8-for-25 from beyond the arc and shot just 37.9 percent from the field overall.
Speaking of offense, Beavers forward Tres Tinkle is the man to watch on the team. Trinkle paces Oregon State with 18.3 points to go with 7.1 rebounds per game.
Betting on the Arizona State Sun Devils (13-2)
The Big 12 has Trae Young. The Pac-12, meanwhile, has Tra Holder, Holder holds the scoring leadership in the conference with the guard averaging 24 points per game. The Sun Devils run a significant percentage of their offense through Holder, but he’s far from being the only one capable of dropping a big game. There’s Shannon Evans, who is putting up 16.9 points per game. Kodi Justice, meanwhile, scores 13.9. All three of them are senior guards, giving the Sun Devils tremendous experience which is valuable especially late in games. When the Sun Devils took down then No. 2 Kansas last December in Lawrence, 95-85, Holder and Evans scored 29 and 22 points, respectively. Justice scored just seven points in that game, but he would bounce back with 16 points, albeit in a loss to Colorado, and 20 points against Utah. As a team, Arizona State is fifth in the nation with 89.3 points per game on 48.3 field goal percentage.
