3/18/2021 basketball Edit

Oregon State Set To Open NCAA Tournament vs Tennessee

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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With the Oregon State men's basketball team (17-12) set to take on Tennessee in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, BeaversEdge.com previews the matchup between the Beavers and Volunteers.

MORE: MBB/WBB Roundup | 2022 QB Katin Houser Hearing From OSU | Recruiting Snapshot: What States Is OSU Hitting?

WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN

No. 12 Oregon State (17-12) vs No. 5 Tennessee (18-8)

1:30 p.m. PT (4:30 p.m. ET)

Bankers Life Fieldhouse; Indianapolis, Ind.

TV - TNT - Spero Dedes (PxP) and Brendan Haywood (analyst) calling the action and Lauren Shehadi reporting from the sideline.

Radio - Beaver Sports Network (CLICK HERE)

LIVE STATS - STATS

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Oregon State PROJECTED STARTERS

#2 G Jarod Lucas - 6-foot-3, 195-pound So. - 12.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, & 1.2 assists per game

#5 G Ethan Thompson - 6-foot-5, 195-pound Sr. - 15.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, & 3.9 assists

#11 G Zach Reichle - 6-foot-5, 205-pound Sr. - 7.6, 3.1 rebounds, & 2.9 assists

#10 F Warith Alatishe - 6-foot-7, 200-pound Jr. - 9.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, & 1.7 assists

#12 C Roman Silva - 7-foot-1, 265-pound Sr. - 5.3 points & 2.4 rebounds

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Tenessee PROJECTED STARTERS

#11 G Jaden Springer - 6-foot-4, 204-pound Fr. - 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, & 2.9 assists per game

#45 G Keon Johnson - 6-foot-5, 186-pound Fr. - 11.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, & 2.5 assists

#12 G Victor Bailey - 6-foot-4, 179-pound Jr. - 11 points, two rebounds, & 1.6 assists

#35 F Yves Pons - 6-foot-6, 215-pound Sr. - 8.9 points & 5.4 rebounds

#25 G Santiago Vescovi - 6-foot-3, 188-pound So. - 8.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, & 3.2 assists

Quick Hits

- Oregon State won the Pac-12 Tournament for the first time in history to earn an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament ...

- The Beavers beat Top 25 teams on back-to-back nights at the Pac-12 Tournament (No. 25 Oregon and No. 23 Colorado); the previous time Oregon State defeated a ranked team at a neutral site was Dec. 29, 1992 (93-79 over No. 23 BYU in Portland, Ore.) ...

- Ethan Thompson was selected to the All-Pac-12 First Team. Thompson holds the Oregon State record with 123 career starts; Gary Payton is second with 120 ...

- Zach Reichle leads the team with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.18.

- Warith Alatishe became the first-ever Beaver to be named the Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player. He leads the Pac-12 with 13 double-figure rebounding games.

- Jarod Lucas is 12th in the nation in free throw percentage at 89.7% (96-for-107).

- Maurice Calloo scored 15 points in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game; he scored 10 points in the previous eight games combined.

- In the 17 wins, Oregon State is averaging 75.2 points, while shooting 47.0%from the field, 39.2% from beyond the arc, and 77.2% from the free-throw line with a rebounding margin of +4.9 and assist average of 15.9.

- In the 12 losses, Oregon State is averaging 64.2 points, while shooting 38.9%from the field, 30.8% from beyond the arc, and 72.8% from the free-throw line with a rebounding margin of -4.7 and assist average of 13.3.

- Oregon State averaged 74.2 points and 17.2 assists in its 16 home games;63.4 points and 10.8 assists in its 10 road games; 76.0 points and 14.3 assists in its three neutral site games.

- In seven seasons under Wayne Tinkle, Oregon State is 80-19 (10-2 this season) when leading at halftime and 92-11 (14-2 this season) when leading with five minutes to play.

- Oregon State is 26-1 since the start of the 2017-18 season when scoring 80-plus points (6-0 in 2017-18; 7-0 in 2018-19; 10-0 in 2019-20, 3-1 in 2020-21).

STORY continues below

NCAA Tournament Quick Hits

- The Beavers are making their 18th appearance in the NCAA Tournament; it's their first since 2016 and just the second time since 1990. Oregon State is 12-20 all-time in NCAA Tournament games. The Beavers played in two Final Fours (1949 and 1963).

- 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 seven straight NCAA Tournament games, with four of those coming as the higher seed.

- 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 Derrick Bruce vs. VCU (3/18/16) and Charles McKinney vs. Ball State (3/15/90); 45 minutes by Gary Payton vs. Evansville (3/15/89).

- Oregon State went 5-5 against teams in the NCAA Tournament (all Pac-12 opponents) with wins over Colorado, Oregon (twice), UCLA, and USC. The losses came against Colorado (twice), Oregon, UCLA, and USC.

Oregon State is 3-1 all-time against Tennessee:

Dec. 30, 1964: Oregon State 48, Tennessee 27 (Portland, Ore.)

Dec. 23, 1970: Tennessee 89, Oregon State 61 (at Knoxville, Tenn.)

Dec. 10, 1989: Oregon State 96, Tennessee 90 (OT) (at Knoxville, Tenn.)

Dec. 22, 1990: Oregon State 82, Tennessee 66 (at Corvallis, Ore.)

- The No. 12 seed is 50-90 all-time against the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

- The Oregon State-Tennessee winner will play the winner of No. 4-seed Oklahoma State and No. 13-seed Liberty.

THEY SAID IT

HC Wayne Tinkle on the mindset of the team

"They're great. They're riding the wave and are excited for what's in front of them. I really sense that they're extremely calm and have a lot of poise. That gives us confidence as we build towards Friday."

Tinkle on what stands out with Tennessee

"They're an athletic group that plays extremely hard. They've got a lot of skill and they come at you. For us, the challenge will be slowing them down and keeping them in the halfcourt. We have to get quality shots because they do a really good job at making it hard on you. We feel we have the guys that can score inside and out and have a good defensive team, so it's going to be a great challenge."

Ethan Thompson on the confidence of the team

"Our confidence is sky high, but at the same time, we see our challenges for what they are and our confidence isn't so high it's a bad thing. We've got a great balance of confidence and humbleness and we're focused on the job at hand. We want to win games and that;'s the plan. To win games, you've got to be a certain amount of confidence."

Prediction

Oregon State Defeats Tennessee

-> If an object is in motion, it tends to stay in motion right? The Beavers are playing arguably the best basketball ever in the Wayne Tinkle era and it's my prediction that they'll carry that momentum to an upset win over the Volunteers.

While Tennessee boasts a very stout defensive squad that will certainly test Oregon State, the Beavers have the advantage of being the deeper & hotter team. While the Volunteers have had the more successful overall campaign, they're 3-3 in their last six games and don't appear to be in stride like the Beavs are.

A big factor in this contest will be the availability of UT big-man John Fulkerson. The senior forward is questionable after suffering facial injuries in the SEC Tournament last week. He's a big piece for the Volunteers, averaging 9.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, so his absence or presence could mean a lot.

Given that Tennessee likes to deploy a guard-heavy lineup, it'll be interesting to see if the Beavers can establish a frontcourt lineup that would be in advantageous positions. Look for Tinkle and Co. to establish Alatishe and Silva early-on...

All in all, I like Oregon State's chances to get the win against the Volunteers... if they can get balanced production from their starters and perhaps and get a surprise contribution from guys like Gianni Hunt, Maurice Calloo, or Rodrigue Andela, they'll be in a good position to get the win.