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Here's the statistical profile of a certain Pac-12 basketball team: Second in the league in field-goal percentage at .483. Leads the conference in blocked shots, assists and steals, and it is second in turnover margin (3.8) and third in assist-turnover ratio (1.2-1).

It has the league's leading scorer and two other guys who are Nos. 1 and 3 in field-goal percentage.

A lock-solid contender, right? Maybe the clear favorite in the race?

Actually, all of the above describes Oregon State, which, after a promising November and December, sits in 11th place in the conference at 1-5. Not exactly what the locals had in mind, the poor souls who haven't been to the NCAA tournament since 1990.

"I'm sure it's been tough on everybody," Oregon State coach Craig Robinson said Tuesday, drawing a breath before answering. "But we've got a resilient fan base here."

But so do the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Clippers. The Beavers are an enigma wrapped in an exasperating three-game losing streak in which they've played five overtime periods.

"What we see after watching the tape is, it's the small things here and there," said Robinson on the weekly Pac-12 coaches conference call. "We're doing everything but win the games.

"What we're all doing is staying positive. We're two, maybe three possessions from feeling completely different about ourselves."

Robinson admits that in the makeover of the Beavers from a Princeton-style, 1-3-1 zone-defense team to an up-and-down outfit that plays a lot of man-to-man, offense has taken hold quicker than defense. Indeed, that statistical picture is a bit incomplete, as OSU has a field-goal defensive percentage of .444 and a ghoulish three-point defensive number of .392, both next-to-worst in the conference.

There's also this: Among OSU's six conference games are four programs expected to be first-division finishers. But look deeper for another possible explanation. On the Washington and Arizona trips, the Beavers had the marquee team first, and after losing, went splat on the back half.

At Arizona last week, they could have won in regulation but Ahmad Starks' three rimmed in and out. Then came a loss at Arizona State.

Ask the two newbies about that phenomenon. Last week, Colorado played a tough game against conference favorite California, leading most of the way before succumbing, 57-50. Then it collapsed at Stanford and lost by 20.

Utah played Stanford to a three-point loss, then got demolished at Cal, 81-45.

"It's a great point," said Tad Boyle, the Colorado coach. "It's the biggest challenge we have coming into this new league, the mental toughness it takes to play on the road Thursday and Saturday. You put a lot of time, emotion and energy into that first game, and you've got to find a way to bounce back mentally and emotionally."

The Beavers have some nice parts — size uncommon to the league, a player-of-the-year candidate in Jared Cunningham, Joe Burton's passing ability and a growing offensive threat in Starks.

Still, the Pac-12 season has proved to be gravel rather than jelly beans, and if the Beavers are to make anything of the league season, Thursday night's home game with UCLA is a virtual must — even if Robinson is hesitant to go that far.

"Yeah," he hedged. "It's important for us to play well. If we play well, and being at home, we should have a good result."

And what's more ...

• Oregon, off to a 4-2 start, is 3-1 on the road, while the rest of the league is 6-22 away from home.

• Washington's next league victory will be Lorenzo Romar's 100th in the conference, joining him at that standard with Cal's Mike Montgomery (252) and UCLA's Ben Howland (100). According to the Pac-12 office, the last time there were three coaches at that milepost was 1964 when Oregon State's Slats Gill had 276, UCLA's John Wooden had 171 and USC's Forrest Twogood had 121.

• In the 10 major statistical individual categories — from scoring to blocked shots to assist-turnover ratio — every one is manned by a non-senior. Of course, this league knows as well as any not all of them will necessarily be back next year, either.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com