Beavers To Face Rams At NCAA Tournament
March 14, 2016 | Men's Basketball
THE GAME: No. 7-seed Oregon State (19-12, 9-9 Pac-12) will face the No. 10-seed VCU Rams (24-10, 14-4 Atlantic 10) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 10:30 a.m. PT (12:30 p.m. CT) on Friday at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla.
TELEVISION: The game will be televised on TNT with Carter Blackburn and Mike Gminski calling the action and Jaime Maggio reporting from the sideline.
RADIO: The game will air live on Beaver Sports Radio Network with Mike Parker calling the action. It can also be heard online at this link.
It can also be heard on Westwood One, Sirius 93 and XM 203 with Tom McCarthy and PJ Carlesimo calling the action.
LIVE STATS: There will be live stats at this link.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Live updates will be available on Twitter and Facebook.
QUICKLY: Oregon State is making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1990 ... Oregon State and VCU are meeting for the first time in history ... Wayne Tinkle is the second Oregon State coach to win 17-plus games in his first two seasons (Bob Hager 1923-1924) ... Oregon State has at least 17 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1989-1990 ... Gary Payton II is the only player in the country averaging at least 15.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game ... Payton II became the first two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year ... Stephen Thompson Jr. is averaging 16.0 points and has a team-high 11 steals in four games since replacing Tres Tinkle in the starting lineup ... Derrick Bruce is averaging 15.0 points the last three games, including a career-high 25 against California ... The Beavers are 13-0 with more or the same number of rebounds as their opponent; they were outrebounded in all 12 of their losses.
NCAA Tournament Notes: Oregon State is the No. 7 seed and opens the NCAA Tournament against No. 10-seed VCU at 10:30 a.m. PT on Friday:
- The Beavers are making their 17th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the first since 1990, which ends a 26-year drought.
- Oregon State's last win in the NCAA Tournament came on March 18, 1982 against Idaho, 60-42, in the West Regional Semifinals in Provo, Utah.
- The Beavers have lost six straight NCAA Tournament games, with three of those coming as the higher seed.
- Oregon State played in two Final Fours (1949 and 1963).
- Some Oregon State individual records in the NCAA Tournament include: 31 points by Gary Payton vs. Evansville (3/15/89); 21 rebounds by Mel Counts vs. Seattle (3/11/63); 10 assists by Gary Payton vs. Evansville (3/15/89); 7 steals by Charlie Neal vs. Middle Tennessee State (3/15/75); three 3-point field goals by Charles McKinney vs. Ball State (3/15/90).
- Oregon State played two of the No. 1 seeds in this year's NCAA Tournament. The Beavers split the season series with Oregon, winning 70-57 on Jan. 3 at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis and losing 91-81 on Feb. 20 at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene. Oregon State built a 14-point first-half lead against then-No. 2 Kansas on Dec. 12 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., before falling 82-67.
- Oregon State went 7-8 against teams in the NCAA Tournament with wins over California, Colorado, Iona, Oregon, USC, Tulsa and Utah. The losses came against Arizona, California (twice), Colorado, Kansas, Oregon, USC and Utah.
- The Oregon State-VCU winner will play the winner of No. 2-seed Oklahoma and No. 15-seed CSU Bakersfield.
Click on the PDF in the Related Links box above for the full game notes.
