Oregon-Washington St. Preview (Jan 07, 2017)

PULLMAN, Wash. -- It will be a battle of teams with perfect Pac-12 records when Oregon visits Washington State on Saturday.

It's no surprise the 15th-ranked Ducks are 3-0 in conference play, but the Cougars were picked to finish last in the Pac-12 before winning its first two conference games.

"We're 2-0, so what?" Washington State forward Josh Hawkinson said. "We've still got 15 or 16 conference games to go. There's a lot more optimism."

Washington State defeated Oregon State 75-62 on Wednesday to exceed its conference win total from last year when it finished 1-17.

"We don't want to go two-and-whatever," Washington State senior guard Ike Iroegbu said. "It's uplifting for sure when we do better than last year."

Oregon has a higher bar to reach in order to exceed last season when it won the Pac-12 championship and reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Oregon (14-2) has won 12 straight games after starting the season 2-2.

"We are continuing to make steps and strides," Oregon junior guard Casey Benson said. "We know we have a long way to go and that is exciting to have a lot of room for improvement. It is a marathon, not a sprint so we cannot overlook anyone."

Oregon survived a scare in Wednesday's 83-61 win over Washington when junior forward Jordan Bell went down with a knee injury midway through the first half. He feared it was a torn anterior cruciate ligament, but instead he just banged his knee against teammate Dylan Ennis and returned to the game a few minutes later.

"Every bad thing that could happen went through my head," Bell admitted. "Then I calmed down a bit and they started working on it and I said I was ready."

Bell had 10 points and 11 rebounds in 24 minutes during the win over the Huskies. He leads the Ducks with 8.3 rebounds per game while also averaging 10.4 points and 2.2 blocks per game.

Bell said he would see how his knee responds during the 48 hours between games but was hopeful he could play against the Cougars.

"We need him, he's a great asset for us," Oregon guard Tyler Dorsey said. "Thankfully, we have a couple days off to rehab so he might be feeling well by Washington State."

Dorsey scored 28 points, one shy of his career high, against Washington. He was 8 of 12 on 3-pointers to fall two makes shy of matching the school record.

"It was a good night, a great road win for us," Dorsey said. "Just sticking to my form and routine and my teammates were finding me in great spots."

Oregon survived foul trouble against Washington as leading scorer Dillon Brooks was held to eight points, six below his average, in 18 minutes while collecting four fouls.

Chris Boucher, who entered the game averaging 13.5 points and 7.6 rebounds, picked up two fouls in the first half and finished with seven points and two rebounds in 13 minutes.

Washington State (9-5) has won four straight games beginning with nonconference victories over Santa Clara and Sacramento State before opening conference play by defeating Washington and Oregon State.

Hawkinson, a 6-foot-10 senior, leads the conference with 10.6 rebounds while ranking seventh with 16.3 points per game. Freshman point guard Malachi Flynn averages 11.8 points and 3.1 assists per game. Iroegbu is scoring 10.9 points per game.

Seven-foot senior center Conor Clifford ranks second in the Pac-12 with a 61.9 shooting percentage while averaging 10.2 points.