After a surprising victory on Thursday, Washington State will look for a road sweep as they face the Oregon Ducks at 3 pm Pacific. The two teams faced off in their Pac-12 opener on December 29th. In that game, UO shredded the WSU defense on the way to a decisive 92-75 victory. That was the Ducks' best offensive performance of the season, as they scored 1.3 points per possession.

The victory was a sign of good things to come for Oregon. They have surprising a 8-4 conference record so far and are just one game out of first place after a blowout victory over the Washington Huskies two days ago.

The Pac-12 leaders, California and UW, both face tough road tests this weekend. This could be a prime opportunity for the Ducks to make up some ground and sit atop the standings. The Cougars don't have a shot at the league title, but every win increases the potential for an easier path in the conference tournament.

Offense and Defense previews after the jump.

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Washington State takes on Oregon at 3 p.m. today, but as Jeff mentioned here there will be no video of any kind. No TV, no Internet stream, nothing. Instead, we will all have to tune into Bud Namek's call to see if the Cougs can complete the road sweep.

Craig will be by later with his preview of the game, but until then you will have to settle for an assortment of morning links.

Men's Basketball

Cougars know Ducks can be dangerous - Spokesman.com - Feb. 10, 2012
EUGENE, Ore. – The television replay they watched Friday looked awfully familiar to the Washington State Cougars. It was of Oregon’s 82-57 disassembly of Washington on Thursday night, but it might as well have been the film of a similar game the Ducks played on Dec. 29.

WSU Looks for First Pac-12 Road Sweep of the Season - The Washington State University Official Athletic Site
WSU LOOKS FOR FIRST ROAD SWEEP OF PAC-12 SEASON: Fresh off its first conference road win of the season, Washington State University men's basketball (13-11, 5-7) will head to the hostile environment of Matthew Knight Arena to take on Oregon (17-7, 8-4), Saturday, Feb. 11 at 3 p.m. in Eugene.

WSU hoops notes from Eugene - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - Feb. 10, 2012
FROM EUGENE — Highlight of the day: eating at a Sonic Drive-In — there's one in nearby Springfield — for the first time. Worth it. Also, we have some basketball notes as the Cougars prepare to face Oregon tomorrow. Read on.

Oregon Ducks Vs. Washington State Cougars 2/11/12: Tyrone's Free College Basketball Pick Against the Spread " Sports Chat Place
The 13-11, 5-7 Washington State Cougars and 17-7, 8-4 Oregon Ducks turned on the offensive jets to get by 15-9, 5-7 Oregon State and 16-8, 9-3 Washington on Thursday.

3 things to watch vs. Washington State - Oregon Ducks - CBSSports.com RapidReports
No. 1 -- Momentum. The Ducks have it, thanks to an 82-57 whipping of conference-leading Washington on Thursday. The key will be not to lose it against the Cougars, who are coming off an upset of Oregon State and with payback in mind for a 92-75 loss to Oregon on Dec. 29.

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We'll preface this all by saying most of it was expected or hinted at ahead of time. However, because there is a bit of football news out there, we might as well take care of it all at once. Consider this a news dump, where we throw everything at you on a Friday and expect you to process it all at once.

Some of this was covered in Mark's post on Thursday, which can you find here. Let's do this, bullet point style.

• Wade Jacobsen has applied for a medical hardship. File this one under "not surprising" and assume it will be a rubber-stamp. Far as we know, he'll be fine and should be awarded an additional year with the quickness.
• Jeff Tuel also applied for a medical hardship. That he filed is not surprising. If he actually is awarded a hardship, it will be a bit surprising. Unlike Jacobsen, Tuel has a bit of a battle on his hands: He played in the second half of the season, thus rendering him technically ineligible to receive a hardship. Then again, it's the NCAA, so who knows!
• Louis Bland is done with football. We've expected this for quite some time and Leach made it official earlier this week. Bland was never able to get his knee back in working order, forcing him to hang up the cleats. It's not a surprise and expecting him to drop in out of nowhere and suddenly be a significant contributor this coming season was always unrealistic. This is the third scholarship player to leave thus far, and WSU is working its way down to the 85-scholarship limit, which will need to be met by the time all the incoming freshman enroll.
• Christian talked to Mike Breske. You should read it! More on this after the jump.

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This basketball season has had it's share of lows, but yesterday was undoubtedly one of the highs. There have been times this season when WSU won a game behind a strong individual effort from Faisal Aden or Brock Motum, but Thursday it seemed the entire team played well.

This was easily the best combined game from the Cougar frontcourt this season. Motum, D.J. Shelton and Abe Lodwick combined for 46 points and 21 rebounds. Shelton shot 5-5 from the field and 4-4 from the free throw line while also grabbing nine rebounds in 24 minutes, his best game as a Cougar.

My only regret is I didn't record the audio of the end game announcer meltdown. I would email Chris to get a copy but he is either busy dividing 12 by 39 or fired. Brief highlights courtesy of KREM news here with recaps and other links after the jump.

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Washington State earned its first conference road win and in the process a season-sweep of Oregon State Thursday night in Corvallis.

Brock Motum was dominant again, scoring 24 points and grabbing nine rebounds in 36 minutes of action. Motum did much of his damage in the second half as OSU abandoned their 1-3-1 zone in favor of man-to-man. The Beavers had no one to guard Brock one-on-one and he found easy looks.

This was an excellent game offensively for WSU. The key to beating Oregon State's defense is taking care of the basketball, and the Cougars certainly did that. They turned the ball over just 10 times and posted a 57 eFG%. Overall, the Cougs posted 83 points on about 67 possessions.

Jared Cunningham, the conference's leading scorer, had a stellar night for the Beavers but did not get much help. Cunningham put up 33 points on 10-20 shooting and 8-9 from the free throw line. The rest of team combined for 12-39 from the field and 11-14 from the line. The Beavers are not typically a team that relies on the three-pointer, but they took 28 attempts, hitting 10.

Reggie Moore struggled from the field, but was active in going to the basket and on defense. He had 11 assists, shot 8 free throws, and grabbed 4 steals. His final steal was an impressive takeaway from Cunningham as he attempted to rise up for a shot. Even though he went 2-11, this was one of Moore's best games of the season. D.J. Shelton took advantage of the attention given to Moore and Motum, as he pulled down 6 offensive rebounds and finished with a career-high 14 points on 5-5 shooting.

Sometimes there are just opponents that are good match-ups, and that seems to be the case with the Beavers. WSU has been able to limit turnovers against the 1-3-1 and do just enough on defense to come through with two wins. OSU also clearly has no answer for Motum, but who does right now?

The Cougs travel down to Eugene on Saturday to take on the Ducks at 3 pm Pacific Time.

No television for the game tonight. For those of you who have the subscription to Cougars All-Access that covers all university sites (it is 14.95 a month instead of 9.95) then you can find this game streamed live at OSU's athletic site.

A free radio feed can be found at http://mynorthwest.com/streams/streampop_ktth.php. Gametracker can be viewed here. Any free video stream links will be posted in the comments, so no need to ask.

Check out the preview and Q & A linked above. Join us in the game thread for some hot, sexy, basketballish discussion!