GAME NOTES: Mississippi State finishes up a four-game road trip with a visit to Gill Coliseum on Saturday to face the Oregon State Beavers.

The Bulldogs won their first five games of the season but have since suffered back-to-back losses to TCU and Tulane. The loss was MSU's 18th straight on the road, a stretch that goes back to Jan. 2013.

The latest loss came in a hard-fought 59-54 decision at Tulane last Saturday. A Trivante Bloodman layup tied things up with 2:36 remaining in regulation, but the Bulldogs did not score the rest of the way as Tulane pulled out its seventh straight win.

Travis Daniels logged 13 points and nine rebounds while Gavin Ware and Roquez Johnson added 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the setback.

On the season, the Bulldogs have found success behind an outstanding defensive effort, as they allow only 57.6 ppg on 39.1 percent shooting, which is more than enough to support a modest scoring offense (66.6 ppg). Their outstanding rebounding margin (+10.0) also goes a long way in helping out. Ware is an anchor in the paint with 13.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg and more than two blocks per contest. Fred Thomas (12.6 ppg) and Johnson (11.9 ppg) have also been solid.

Oregon State pulled out a tough road win last Saturday against Portland, outlasting the Pilots, 65-58, in overtime. The Beavers made all 10 of their free throws in the extra session and used a career-high 18-point performance from Victor Robbins to come away victorious.

Langston Morris-Walker and Olaf Schaftenaar chipped in with 16 and 14 points, respectively, while Gary Payton II notched his third straight double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Payton has done pretty much everything this season, as he leads the team in scoring (14.0 ppg), rebounding (9.6 rpg) and steals (15) and is tied with Daniel Gomis with 10 blocks. The guard is shooting an impressive 56.9 percent from the floor as well.

Morris-Walker is netting 12.1 ppg for an Oregon State team averaging 67.0 ppg as a unit. Malcolm Duvivier tops the squad with 24 assists on the season, but also has committed 21 turnovers.

The Beavers have done especially well at the defensive end, as they enter the weekend ranked 11th in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.347).

The Bulldogs won the only previous meeting against Oregon State back in 1995. Times have changed, and Payton and Co. should hand MSU yet another road loss.