CORVALLIS, Ore. — Buoyed by the first sellout at Gill Coliseum since 2019, unranked Oregon State used a 7-0 run late in regulation and clutch shooting in overtime to come from behind and upset No. 16 Gonzaga, 97-89, in the new-look WCC Thursday night.
Fans rushed the floor after OSU secured the upset, a joyous celebration on a campus that’s been through the college realignment wringer, a torturous process that ultimately killed the Beavers’ conference.
Oregon State joined the WCC in most non-football sports for the 2024-25 academic year after the mass exodus of schools from the Pac-12. Put simply this school, and specifically this athletic department, was owed one.
“This was an unbelievable reward for the crap we’ve gone through as a program the last couple years,” OSU coach Wayne Tinkle said afterward. “How deserving. It felt pretty cool.”
BIG WIN FOR THE BEAVERS 🦫
Oregon State gets a signature win over No. 16 Gonzaga, handing the Bulldogs their first conference loss of the season 😳 pic.twitter.com/bKpN328Wsr
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) January 17, 2025
Michael Rataj led Oregon state with 29 points, including two huge 3s in overtime and the Beavers shot 58 percent from the field. Nate Kingz chipped in 20, and Josiah Lake went 9-of-10 from the line to help OSU seal the win, also coming up with two huge steals.
All five Gonzaga starters scored in double figures, led by Graham Ike’s 26 points, but he fouled out with 2:01 to play and OSU leading 89-87.
It was Oregon State’s 13th consecutive win over Gonzaga — granted, the last one came during the 1991-92 season.
Despite being two of the only major men’s programs in the Pacific Northwest, the Beavers and Bulldogs hadn’t met in 33 seasons. But after the collapse of the Pac-12, which left Oregon State and Washington State without a conference, the schools agreed to join the WCC temporarily, setting up Thursday’s upset.
The Zags, a perennial powerhouse and long the best team in the West, looked like they were stuck in quicksand all night. Flat-footed on defense and out of sync on offense, this roster is nothing like past ones that have gone to Final Fours. Suffice it to say, the Zags have some work to do.
Still, the WCC is likely a two-bid league, with the Zags (No. 11 in the NET) and St. Mary’s (No. 32) thought to be shoo-ins to the NCAA tournament. But could Oregon State, which boasted a No. 58 NET ranking coming into Thursday and is sure to jump up a few spots, go dancing too?
No one should rule it out.
Gonzaga will join a rebuilt Pac-12 for the 2026-27 season, a move Tinkle described Thursday as “a shot in the arm” for a conference left for dead in summer 2023. It’s likely to be a loaded men’s basketball league with the likes of Gonzaga, Utah State, San Diego State, Boise State and others joining Oregon State and Washington State. But Tinkle doesn’t want to wait two years to make an impression.
“This year and next year, it’s about trying to build momentum to get our program back,” Tinkle said, likely a reference to OSU’s surprise Elite Eight run in 2021.
Knocking off a ranked team is a good start.
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(Photo: Soobum Im / Getty Images)
