Men's Hoops Announces 2015-16 Schedule
September 10, 2015 | Men's Basketball
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Fifteen games at Gill Coliseum, two contests in Portland as part of the Far West Classic Invite, a battle with the Kansas Jayhawks and Oregon in the Pac-12 opener at Gill Coliseum highlight the 2015-16 Oregon State men's basketball schedule that was announced by head coach Wayne Tinkle on Thursday.
“This year's schedule is a tough one with a good balance of challenging home and road games,” Tinkle said. “We wanted to test this group because we have six freshmen joining our vets from last year. The schedule will certainly give us plenty of opportunity to challenge ourselves as we prepare for conference play.
“The league schedule will definitely test us. It's frontloaded with home games and leads to a very tough finish with five out of the last seven on the road before the conference tournament. Hopefully, the preseason games will give us the experience to get ourselves ready for the Pac-12 race.”
For a $25 deposit fans can secure new season tickets by visiting this link or calling 800-GO-BEAVS. Far West Classic Invite tickets will be included for all Oregon State men's basketball season ticket holders, giving fans a total of 18 games to watch in Corvallis and Portland during the 2015-16 season (including an exhibition game).
For returning ticket holders, season tickets will be $249 as part of the "Committ2Wayne" plan and all new chairback season tickets will be $349. Bench seats will remain at $199.
The schedule features 17 games on the Pac-12 Networks, seven on the ESPN family of networks and three on Fox Sports 1. An exhibition game against Western Oregon on Thursday, Nov. 5 will also be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
Oregon State is coming off a season in which it set a school record for its best start at Gill Coliseum (14-0) and the most home wins in a single season (15). The Beavers defeated No. 7 Arizona for their first win over a top-10 team in 15 years, and knocked off Arizona, UCLA and Washington in the same season for the first time since 1990.
The average attendance for men's basketball at Gill Coliseum was 5,612, a 42.2 percent increase from the previous season, and the average attendance for Pac-12 games was 6,988, an increase of 47.8 percent. Both average increases were the highest in the Pac-12. The ticket base grew by 1,000 new season tickets through the “Commit2Wayne” campaign and saw the highest attendance by Oregon State students in more than 10 years.
Oregon State returns all five starters and 90.4 percent of their scoring, and added six freshmen as part of the highest-ranking recruiting class in program history. The Beavers are gaining attention nationally and were picked to make the 2016 NCAA Tournament in ESPN's first Bracketology.
Tinkle's second season at Oregon State begins on Saturday, Nov. 14 when the Beavers host Northwest Christian, out of Eugene, Ore., as part of the Hardwood Showcase. The inaugural event also includes home games against Iona (Tuesday, Nov. 17) and Valparaiso (Tuesday, Nov. 24).
The spirit of a legendary 40-year holiday basketball tradition returns this season when Oregon State and the University of Portland team up to host the Far West Classic Invite at the Moda Center on Friday, Dec. 18 and Saturday, Dec. 19.
The two-day doubleheader will be played at the home of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and feature Portland against Weber State on Friday night, followed by Cal State Fullerton battling Oregon State. Saturday will feature Cal State Fullerton facing Portland and the Beavers taking on Tulsa. Preliminary tip-offs are set for 6 and 8 p.m.
For exclusive Far West Classic Invite presale ticket opportunities and other information, go to www.rosequarter.com/FWC2015.
Oregon State will have three games at Gill Coliseum in December, including matchups with Loyola Marymount (Wednesday, Dec. 2), Nevada (Saturday, Dec. 5) and Quinnipiac (Monday, Dec. 21). The meeting with Loyola Marymount will be the first since the teams scored a combined Gill Coliseum record 230 points on Dec. 19, 1989.
The Beavers will face Kansas for the second time in history, this time on Saturday, Dec. 12 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., in a game that will be televised live on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. PT. The teams battled in the only previous meeting with the Jayhawks pulling away late to win 84-78 on Nov. 30, 2012.
Other non-conference road games include stops against Rice (Thursday, Nov. 19) and UC Santa Barbara (Saturday, Nov. 21). Tinkle got his first career win at Oregon State against the Owls last season, 67-54 at Gill Coliseum. The Beavers also defeated the Gauchos at Gill a year ago, 76-64, when they came back from a 16-point deficit.
Kansas has played in the NCAA Tournament 26 consecutive years, while Cal State Fullerton (2008), Iona (2006, 2012, 2013), Nevada (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007), Tulsa (2014), UC Santa Barbara (2010, 2011) and Valparaiso (2013, 2015) have advanced to the Big Dance in recent years.
“Iona and Valparaiso are two perennial NCAA Tournament teams, and we have other quality home games with Loyola Marymount, Nevada and Quinnipiac,” Tinkle said. “The games in Portland will be exciting as we bring back the Far West Classic. Rice, UC Santa Barbara and Kansas will be very challenging games for us on the road.”
2015-16 Non-Conference Schedule Notes- Oregon State is 12-13 all-time against non-conference opponents.
- The Far West Classic began in 1956 when the Beavers hosted three teams at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis.
- Oregon State won the first 10 Far West Classics and a tournament record 20 overall.
- The Beavers have never played Northwest Christian, Iona and Valparaiso.
- Oregon State is 2-1 all-time against Loyola Marymount with wins in 1987 and 1988. The Lions won, 117-113, at Gill Coliseum in 1989 when Bo Kimble (53) and Gary Payton (48) combined for 101 points.
- The Beavers are 1-1 all-time against both Cal State Fullerton and Quinnipiac.
- Oregon State is concluding a home-and-home series with Rice and UC Santa Barbara after defeating both teams at Gill Coliseum last season.
- Oregon State and Nevada first met in 1921 with the Beavers winning the first four games of the series.
- Oregon State and Tulsa are meeting for just the second time in history and the first since 1998.
- The Beavers will host Western Oregon in an exhibition game on Thursday, Nov. 5 at Gill Coliseum. It will be televised on Pac-12 Networks at 5 p.m.
Oregon State will host three home games to open Pac-12 play, beginning with the Civil War on Sunday, Jan. 3. Stanford (Wednesday, Jan. 6) and California (Saturday, Jan. 9) also visit Gill Coliseum before the Beavers hit the road for a pair of games on ESPNU against Colorado (Wednesday, Jan. 13) and Utah (Sunday, Jan. 17).
The Los Angeles schools (Jan. 20 and 24), Mountain schools (Feb. 4 and 6) and Washington schools (Feb. 24 and 28) will also play at Gill Coliseum this season. Arizona and Arizona State are the two Pac-12 programs that won't make the trip to Corvallis.
The Beavers will play at the Arizona schools the final weekend of January and have five of their final seven games on the road, ending with a trip to Los Angeles before the Pac-12 Tournament begins on Wednesday, March 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
2015-16 Pac-12 Schedule Notes- Oregon State will open Pac-12 play with the Civil War for the second straight season and the third time in the past four years.
- The Beavers won't play a game in the State of Washington for the first time since 1911. The last time Oregon State didn't play Washington in Seattle was 1911 and the last time they didn't play Washington State in Pullman or Spokane was 1918.
- This is the first time Oregon State will end conference play in Los Angeles since 2009.
- California and Stanford didn't play in Corvallis last season; the Beavers didn't travel to Colorado and Utah.
- Nine games will be televised on Pac-12 Networks, six on the ESPN family of networks and three on Fox Sports 1.
- Oregon State will play six games on Saturday, five on Wednesday, four on Sunday and three on Thursday.
- The Beavers finished seventh in the Pac-12 last season, with an 8-10 record, after being picked to finish last in the preseason media poll.
- Oregon State returns all five starters for the first time since 2004-05; that team went 17-15 (12-2 at home), finished fifth in the Pac-10 (8-10) and advanced to the NIT.
