NCAA Tournament: Five reasons Tennessee basketball could lose to Oregon State

3. Red-hot three-point shooting as of late favors Beavers.

One key way to beat Tennessee basketball is to get red-hot from the three-point line. The Kentucky Wildcats pulled off that upset against them on the road in Thompson-Boling Arena by shooting 7-of-14, or 50 percent, from beyond the arc, and the same was true for the Alabama Crimson Tide in their first win at UT, when they also shot 50 percent, going 10-of-20.

Well, part of the Oregon State Beavers’ red-hot winning streak is three-point shooting. In just the Pac-12 Tournament alone, they shot 43.9 percent, going 29-of-66 and hitting just under 10 three-pointers a game during that run. They never shot below 40 percent in any of those games.

In fact, during this entire run of six wins in seven games, they are shooting 37.5 percent, and that includes a dismal 0-for-10 performance in their first win of that run over the Cal Golden Bears and a 4-of-17 performance in their loss to the Oregon Ducks. If you just look at their last five wins, they are shooting 43.5 percent.

Given the fact that they shot 35.3 percent on the year, this has been a dramatic improvement no matter how you slice it. Key has been the emergence of Jarod Lucas, the team’s second leading scorer to Ethan Thompson. He’s been red-hot, and if he continues, he could send the Vols packing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.