OSU underdogs claw their way to Elite Eight

Anna Sherman, Staff Writer

During the regular season, the Oregon State men’s basketball team were 11-11 overall. The Beavers’ only hope of making it into the NCAA tournament was an automatic bid. To do that, they had to win the Pac-12 tournament. They took down UCLA, Oregon and Colorado to win the Pac-12 tournament, earning themselves a 12th seed in the NCAA Tournament. 

The last time the Beavers reached the Sweet Sixteen was in 1982. 

That means—as far as the NCAA record books are concerned—both DePaul and Rutgers had been to a Final Four more recently than Oregon State won a tournament game,” Kerry Miller said in an article published by Bleacher Report. 

The odds of a win for the Beavers was slim to none, but anything can happen in March. 

Ethan Thompson, a 6’5” senior out of Los Angeles, Calif., helped lead the Beavers to a 70-56 win over number 5-ranked Tennessee. Alongside Thompson was Jarod Lucas and Roman Silva, who combined for 30 points. With these tremendous efforts, OSU advanced to the round of 32. 

The Beavers faced off against Oklahoma State with Cade Cunningham. Both teams put up a tough fight, but OSU came away with the win, 80-70. 

Now in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in 39 years, Oregon State prepared to take on Loyola-Chicago and make history by advancing to the Elite Eight. Senior leader Ethan Thompson averaged 20.3 points, 7 rebounds and 3.3 assists in the first three games of the tournament. Against Loyola-Chicago, he led the Beavers in points and sank 8 for 8 from the free throw line. The final score: 65-58, Beavers. 

A six-point deficit against Houston in the Elite Eight ended what was a magical run. The Oregon State Beavers went from arguably the worst team in the Pac-12 conference to a force to be reckoned with in the biggest tournament in college basketball. This is not the end of the road, but the start of a new chapter.