CORVALLIS -- Welcome to the latest edition of Sydney Wiese's Oregon State women's basketball diary, where the All-Pac-12 point guard will take readers inside the Beavers program.

This week, Wiese reflects on her last trip to her hometown as a Beaver, sitting alone in first place in the Pac-12 and this weekend's rematch against No. 15 UCLA.

Feb. 8, 2017

Going back to Arizona was incredible. It's very surreal to me, because the next time I go home, I'm done with school and done with the season and done with college. It was hitting me hard. I had a moment where everyone was inside (after eating dinner at my family's home) and we were getting ready to leave, and we have a fire pit in my backyard and I was sitting there by myself like, "Wow," taking it in. All my family at home and my family up here in once place -- all these important people that I care so much about -- so many emotions. I sat there for a moment, prayed and gave thanks for the opportunity to share such a special, intimate time with these people. Then I come out the next day (against Arizona State) and see everyone in orange and black behind our bench. People from my church. I had people from elementary and high school that came. Just so many familiar faces that I haven't seen and I didn't even know were gonna come. I was exploding with emotions on the inside. Then at the end, I saw my brother made me a sign (that said "best friend since '95"). I cried. Tears were everywhere. Honestly, it was perfect. I'm so thankful for the support system that I've been blessed with near and far. To see all these people, to get a win in front of them and for them to be there live, it was surreal.

I scheduled a night class on Mondays. Little did I know that there are big women's basketball games every Monday. Either I'm watching the game in the practice facility and sprinting to class because it's just ending, or I get it on my phone like the UCLA-Stanford game that was literally happening in the middle of my class and I'm "multitasking." I'm listening and watching and glancing up and making sure I'm not missing anything. I took a note occasionally. One note. It was a great game. I'm such a bad classmate. I had three of my classmates gathered around me and they said, "What are you watching?" And I said, "This is a big game, so I'm here but I'm not. My head's on a swivel right now." I had a couple of my classmates surrounding my little phone. There would be some plays happening and I would react and I would have my hands up and then I would make eye contact with the professor and I would (quickly put my hands down) and just pick up my pen and make sure I'm writing. It was a very exciting class period, that's for sure.

Thank you, UCLA. Credit to them. To get a win on that floor, we know how hard it is. We've done it, and we're thankful to say that we have done it. But they played a tough game and they took that game from Stanford. To be in a position now where we sit alone at the top, I think that adds to our sense of urgency when we watch film, when we practice. All the little things that we've been able to get away with and keep winning, we can't do that anymore. We have to be perfect. The veterans know. We've been in this position. Now it's time to execute and kick it up a notch, like Emeril.

Offensively, (we need to improve) spacing, balance and vision. There's been a lot of times where we'll be in a play and we're so robotic that we'll stick to that play, or we'll go away from it and then the spacing's all jacked up. We need to work on being basketball players within our system, but still having balance and not going crazy if something doesn't work the first time. Then there were a lot of times this past weekend where literally someone in the corner was wide open and we didn't see it, and it was multiple times. I don't know why we didn't see it, but we've been practicing that a lot this week to see everything and to make sure if we're getting double-teamed (on the perimeter) or if someone's getting double-teamed in the post, to find the right person right now. Offensive ball movement has been a big deal. Then thinking back to the UCLA game, we broke down in defensive transition in the fourth quarter, so that's been a focus for us because USC and UCLA love to run. Just little things on defense and playing a little bit harder.

We played (UCLA) really tough for three quarters, and then the fourth quarter we fell apart and lost sight of little details that really made a difference. They're a great team, so we have to play perfectly and we have to make plays on both ends of the floor. I think we're gonna stick to our game plan pretty much. Limit Jordin Canada in transition, try not to let her get any easy looks at the basket. Then find the shooters and try to contain Monique Billings at the same time. It's really tough to do, but I have confidence that with the preparation that we're putting in this week, we'll be ready for them.

You definitely look back at what you did poorly against them to improve at and avoid for the next time around, and you look at what they did well. You really focus on, "Don't mess up." You can feel it in practice. Coach (Scott) Rueck has been ... not hard on us, but very intense, because he knows what's coming. And so do the veterans. We're trying to get everyone to that point of we can't mess up. If we want to get to where we want to go, we're good enough now where we've learned lessons and we don't need to learn them again. It's tough to watch film on stuff that's, "Ugh, gross. We shouldn't have done that." But it's good for us to see and to learn from going forward. You've been there. You've felt that pain of losing to UCLA. And USC's gonna be a tough matchup again. You learn those lessons watching film so you don't have to learn them again on the court.

We have a lot to improve at, but we want to improve at it. We're very coachable and very moldable right now, and that's a good spot to be in. We're coaching each other up and the coaches are trying to help us the best that they can. To know that we have an opportunity to do something amazing, I think that's pushing us even more to have a sense of urgency and to eliminate any type of weaknesses. The history and the experiences that we've had definitely do help, but you can't rely necessarily on that. Every game is a new game, a new opportunity for a team to come into our home court and try and beat us and try and screw things up for us. So we have to stay on our toes and attack them before they can attack us.

-- Sydney Wiese, as told to Gina Mizell

Sydney Wiese's 2016-17 Oregon State women's basketball diary
Oct. 24, 2016: "I'm thankful for one more year"
Nov. 16, 2016: "Incredibly surreal" to play in "last first game"
Nov. 28, 2016: "Growth is painful sometimes"
Dec. 7, 2016: "We are still searching for our team identity"
Dec. 29, 2016: "This is what we work for"
Jan. 3, 2017: "This conference is ridiculous"
Jan. 10, 2017: "It took everything we had"
Jan. 18, 2017: "Now we can't relax"
Jan. 25, 2017: "A little more pride involved"
Feb. 1, 2017: "An out-of-body experience"

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