Washington St. faces Oregon in Pac-12 tourney
No. 11 seed Washington State (11-20, 4-14) vs. No. 6 seed Oregon (19-12, 10-8)
Pac-12 Conference Tournament First Round, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas; Wednesday, 10:30 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Washington State is set to take on Oregon in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament. Oregon won both of the regular season matchups earlier this season. The teams last played on March 6, when the Ducks outshot Washington State 49.2 percent to 42 percent and had seven fewer turnovers en route to the 72-61 victory.
BIG MEN ON CAMPUS: Oregon's Payton Pritchard has averaged 12.2 points and 4.3 assists while Louis King has put up 12.6 points and 5.6 rebounds. For the Cougars, Robert Franks has averaged 22.1 points and 7.4 rebounds while CJ Elleby has put up 14.9 points and seven rebounds.
FRANKS IS A FORCE: Franks has connected on 41.2 percent of the 182 3-pointers he's attempted and has gone 14 for 28 over the last three games. He's also converted 84.3 percent of his foul shots this season.
SLIPPING AT 73: Oregon is 0-7 this year when it allows 73 points or more and 19-5 when holding opponents to fewer than 73.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Cougars have recently created baskets via assists more often than the Ducks. Oregon has 33 assists on 77 field goals (42.9 percent) across its past three matchups while Washington State has assists on 46 of 73 field goals (63 percent) during its past three games.
GETTING DEFENSIVE: The steady Oregon defense has held opponents to 63.7 points per game, the 19th-lowest mark in Division I. Washington State has given up an average of 78.5 points through 31 games (ranking the Cougars 292nd).
