2020–21 Oregon State Beavers men's basketball team
The 2020–21 Oregon State Beavers men's basketball team represented Oregon State University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Beavers were led by seventh-year head coach Wayne Tinkle, and played their home games at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Oregon as members of the Pac-12 Conference.
| 2020–21 Oregon State Beavers men's basketball | |
|---|---|
Pac-12 tournament champions | |
NCAA tournament, Elite Eight | |
| Conference | Pac-12 Conference |
| Ranking | |
| Coaches | No. 20 |
| Record | 20–13 (10–10 Pac-12) |
| Head coach |
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| Associate head coach | Kerry Rupp (7th season) |
| Assistant coaches |
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| Home arena | Gill Coliseum |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 17 Oregon | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 21 | – | 7 | .750 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 9 USC | 15 | – | 5 | .750 | 25 | – | 8 | .758 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 23 Colorado | 14 | – | 6 | .700 | 23 | – | 9 | .719 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 7 UCLA | 13 | – | 6 | .684 | 22 | – | 10 | .688 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arizona* | 11 | – | 9 | .550 | 17 | – | 9 | .654 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 20 Oregon State † | 10 | – | 10 | .500 | 20 | – | 13 | .606 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stanford | 10 | – | 10 | .500 | 14 | – | 13 | .519 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Utah | 8 | – | 11 | .421 | 12 | – | 13 | .480 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arizona State | 7 | – | 10 | .412 | 11 | – | 14 | .440 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washington State | 7 | – | 12 | .368 | 14 | – | 13 | .519 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washington | 4 | – | 16 | .200 | 5 | – | 21 | .192 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| California | 3 | – | 17 | .150 | 9 | – | 20 | .310 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| *Ineligible for the conference and NCAA tournaments due to self-imposed postseason ban. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Despite being picked to finish last in the Pac-12 standings in preseason media polls, the Beavers finished tied for sixth in conference play and received a 5-seed in the 2021 Pac-12 tournament due to Arizona's self-imposed ban. Despite the Beavers' outperforming of low expectations, the consensus among analysts entering the Pac-12 tournament was that OSU would not receive an at-large bid to the upcoming NCAA tournament, and thus needed to win the conference tournament to make the field as an automatic qualifier. The Beavers proceeded to defeat 4-seed UCLA in overtime, top-seed and rival Oregon, and 3-seed Colorado in succession to win their first Pac-12 tournament title in school history and guarantee just their second NCAA tournament berth since 1990.
Seeded 12th in the Midwest region in the 2021 NCAA tournament, the Beavers would trail for less than five combined minutes in upset wins over 5th-seeded Tennessee and 4th-seeded Oklahoma State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The wins were Oregon State's first in the NCAA tournament since advancing to the Elite Eight in 1982. The Beavers next overcame a slow start to defeat 8-seed Loyola-Chicago and advance to the Elite Eight, matching their 1982 run. Over their six-game postseason winning streak dating back to the Pac-12 tournament, the Beavers were not favored in a single game. They became just the second ever 12-seed to advance to the Elite Eight since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
Facing the 2-seed Houston Cougars in the Midwest regional final, the Beavers rallied from a 17-point second half deficit to tie the game with under four minutes remaining. Houston would prevail, 67–61, to end Oregon State's Cinderella run.