Oregon State MBB Set For Road Matchup At Pepperdine Thursday As Tournament Time Nears
Oregon State Beavers (18-9, 8-6 WCC) @ Pepperdine Waves (10-17, 4-10 WCC)
Date: Thursday, February 20
Time: 7 PM PT//10 PM ET
Location: Firestone Fieldhouse - Malibu, CA
TV: ESPN+
The Oregon State Beavers' inability to win true road games (1-6 this season) has put them in a difficult spot once again in 2024-2025. However, a path to the NCAA tournament is not completely off of the table. OSU can still secure one of the top four seeds in the West Coast Conference Tournament with four games left in the regular season.
From there, OSU would all but certainly need to win the WCC tournament to actually reach the NCAA Tournament, but getting one of those seeds and an automatic spot in the WCC quarterfinals would make it much more obtainable.
The Beavs are currently fifth in the WCC, five games behind league leaders Saint Mary's and one game behind fourth-place Santa Clara. They can do themselves a huge favor on Thursday on the road against a struggling Pepperdine team. Santa Clara host Loyola Marymount that same night. A Beavs win and a Santa Clara loss would move them into a tie for fourth place.
"We can't relax. We've got to bring more intensity, more fight, more fire," OSU head coach Wayne Tinkle said following his team's win over Pacific on Saturday. "So whatever the guys have to do. I mean if we have to bang the lockers, pots and pans, but really it's them coming out and deciding we're tired of this. We know what's in front of us, let's find a way to get it done on the road and get that next one and then build off of that."
Beaver fans across the world can tune into the matchup from Malibu via ESPN+ with tipoff scheduled for 7 PM PT.
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Joe Londergan joined the SI brand in 2023 with G5 Football Daily. With over 15 years of experience in covering and working directly in college and pro sports, Joe's expertise has been featured in Front Office Sports, SB Nation, and XRAY.FM. He is a member of both the Football Writers' Association of America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association. Joe holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville and a master's degree in sports administration from Seattle University. Outside of his writing career, Joe enjoys golfing, although he admits that while he hits driver decently, his short game is a liability.