Gonzaga at Oregon State Preview: Forget, Correct, Execute

Wednesday night in Portland, Oregon, was a nightmare. The 87-80 loss to the Portland Pilots was arguably the worst in the coach Mark Few era and will hurt his No. 6 Gonzaga Bulldogs (22-2, 10-1 WCC) come Selection Sunday as a Quad 3 loss. But it’s time to move past.

The road trip through the Beaver State still isn’t complete, with a matchup with the Oregon State Beavers (13-12, 6-6 WCC) in Corvallis, Oregon, on Saturday, Jan. 6. It is the only regular-season matchup between the two Pacific Northwest schools.

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This is an opportunity to come out with a statement and improve on the previous mistakes before a battle for the top of the West Coast Conference standings at the Santa Clara Broncos next week. Bringing more energy from the tip on the defensive end is a must, and hopefully, a complete makeover in the rotation from Few. Especially at the point guard position between redshirt junior guard Braeden Smith and freshman guard Mario Saint-Supery. Just something to bring back some new life in the roster after suffering a historic upset.

Few touched on the recent inconsistent play from his unit as a whole when speaking to the media late on Jan. 4.

“It’s hard to find any consistency on the defensive end…. We got some real inconsistent effort from some guys, and some guys probably didn’t bring what they were supposed to bring. If everyone does their job and bring what they’re supposed to bring, we’ve been pretty darn good this year. But when they deviate from that and not bring what they’re supposed to bring, that really exposes us.” – Gonzaga coach Mark few

The last time the Zags and Beavers played on Jan. 19, 2025, it ended in another shocking upset, 97-89 in overtime at the Gill Coliseum. That was a completely different Oregon State squad last season, losing five key members to the transfer portal this past offseason.

Coach Wayne Tinkle’s current team is riding a three-game winning streak, including two straight second-half comebacks against the San Diego Toreros and Washington State Cougars, and is playing its best ball of the season. They aren’t the best overall shooting team Gonzaga has come across, actually one of the worst at only hitting 42.1 percent from the field (ranks No. 317 in the country).

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Oregon State Player to Watch For

Junior guard Josiah Lake II

2025-26 season averages: team-high 13.5 points on 49.7 field goal percentage/37.7 three-point percentage/83.2 free throw percentage, 4.2 rebounds, team-high 3.8 assists, team-high 1.5 steals per game

Josiah Lake II has made a jump in usage from his sophomore season to now. He continuously attacks the rack with aggression and gets to the free-throw line.

The former walk-on capped the most recent 17-point comeback over Washington State, scoring 20 of his 22 points in the second half. He also snagged five rebounds in the win, reaching a .500 winning percentage in conference play.