The 2020–21 Oregon State Beavers men's basketball team represented

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

in the

2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 25, 2020 and concluded on March 14, 2021. The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament culminated the season and began on March 18 and concluded on April 5. Season ...

. The Beavers were led by seventh-year head coach

Wayne Tinkle Wayne Francis Tinkle II (born January 26, 1966) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Oregon State Beavers men's team of the Pac-12 Conference. Prior to his arrival in Corvallis in 2014, he was the head coach for ...

, and played their home games at

Gill Coliseum Gill Coliseum is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the northwest United States, located on the campus of Oregon State University in Opened the arena has a seating capacity of 9,604 and is home to the Oregon State Beavers' basketball, wrestling, v ...

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...

as members of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. 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 The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in overtime, top-seed and rival

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, and 3-seed

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

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 Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and 4th-seeded

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

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 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. 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 The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education instr ...

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.

Previous season

The 2019–20 Beavers finished the 2019–20 season 18–13, 7–11 in Pac-12 play to finish in a three-way tie for eighth place. They defeated

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament and were set to take on rival

in the quarterfinals before the remainder of the Pac-12 Tournament was cancelled amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Off-season

Departures

Incoming transfers

2020 recruiting class

2021 Recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

Source: , - !colspan=12 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Pac-12 tournament , - !colspan=12 style=, NCAA tournament , -

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Oregon State Beavers men's basketball team Oregon State Beavers men's basketball seasons

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

Oregon State Beavers men's basketball The Oregon State Beavers men's basketball program, established in 1901, is the intercollegiate men's basketball program of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Members of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I, the team plays home g ...

Pac-12 Conference men's basketball tournament championship seasons