Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Mar 16, 2021 15:46:46 GMT -8
December 30, 1964 @ Memorial Coliseum Oregon State 48 - Tennessee 27 Far West Classic Championship Game
The Far West Classic was the initial premier holiday basketball tournament, and the 1964 version was the fifth to be played at the Memorial Coliseum. Oregon State went dancing in 1964 but bowed out in the first round to Seattle in Eugene, which was unfortunate, because Oregon State was set to host the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight. Mel Counts (seventh pick in the draft) graduated at season's end and Slats Gill retired. Paul Valenti was hired as the head coach. Tennessee finished tied for second in the SEC behind Kentucky.
The Vols started undefeated in 1964-65, beating Richmond at the University of Tennessee Armory-Fieldhouse and then beating Georgia Tech and Florida State on the road. Tennessee then travelled across the country to play three games at the Memorial Coliseum, beating Portland and Oregon before playing Oregon State. The Beavers started 1964-65 with wins over Washington, Arizona State and Stanford and losses to #9 San Francisco and Cincinnati in Cincinnati. Oregon State beat Army and Northwestern en route to the Far West Classic Championship Game against Tennessee.
The Vols entered the game as the favorites. Tennessee's starting five were bigger and taller than Oregon State's starting five. The Vols were led by Ron Widby. Widby was a four-sport athlete, lettering baseball, basketball, golf and football at Tennessee. In his senior year, he was named an All-American the SEC basketball Player of the Year and was drafted by the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Buccaneers of the ABA and the New Orleans Saints. After dropping baseball, he picked up golf and earned a letter. He dropped golf his senior year, in order to be able to negotiate his contract with the Saints. The Saints cut him, but he was signed by the Cowboys and played for the Cowboys for five years, winning a Super Bowl and playing in a Pro Bowl. Widby played another two years for the Packers before rupturing his spine in a freak accident toward the end of the 1973 season. Tennessee also featured center/power forward Red Robbins, who would go on to play in the ABA for nine years and another year in Italy. Robbins would finish his career fourth all-time in rebounds in the ABA.
Tennessee mostly relied on a zone defense. Oregon State responded by slowing its offense to a near crawl, slowly building a 22-8 halftime lead. The Beavers continued to pour it on in the second half, leading by as many as 22 before winning 48-27. Oregon State's senior guard, Jim Jarvis, led all scorers with 14 points. Charlie White added another 11 points. Widby finished with three points and seven rebounds. Robbins was held scoreless and held to only one rebound.
Oregon State finished fourth in the AAWU. UCLA won the AAWU and National Championship. Tennessee finished second in the SEC to Vanderbilt. The Commodores lost in the Elite Eight to eventual runner-up Michigan by two.
December 23, 1970 @ Knoxville, Tennessee #12 Tennessee 89 - Oregon State 61
Paul Valenti retired at the end of the 1969-70 season and was replaced by Ralph Miller. Miller started by defeating Oklahoma State twice and Utah and BYU before taking Oregon State across the country to play #7 Kentucky and #12 Tennessee on the road on consecutive nights. The Wildcats won 84-78. The Vols were undefeated on the season with wins over #17 Houston, Wake Forest on the road and San Francisco and Providence in Knoxville. Tennessee had three days of rest after the Providence game, while Oregon State had was playing the second day in a row. Tennessee was up 40-27 at the half and cruised for a 89-61 win. Four Vols wound up in double figures. The Beavers' Mike Keck scored 19 and Gary Erickson scored 10.
Oregon State finished sixth in the Pac-8. UCLA won the AAWU and National Championship. Tennessee finished second in the SEC to Kentucky.
December 10, 1989 @ Knoxville, Tennessee #24 Oregon State 96 - Tennessee 90 OT
Ralph Miller retired at the end of the 1988-89 season and was replaced by Jimmie Anderson. Anderson started by defeating Marquette, Arizona State and #2 Arizona before dropping a game to #16 Memphis in Memphis 78-72. Tennessee narrowly beat Autsin Peay and beat New Mexico at home and lost to Memphis by 19 at Memphis and East Tennessee State at home. The Vols were led by guard Allan Houston and center Ian Lockhart. The Beavers were led by guard Gary Payton and center Scott Haskin.
Six-and-a-half minutes in, Tennessee led 18-10. The Volunteers led by as many as 12 before the Beavers fought back to 45-39 at halftime. Tennessee had 22 rebounds to Oregon State's 12 at the break. Payton was held to 13 first half points. Payton scored the Beavers first eight points of the second half. Oregon State went on a 4-0 run to tie it at 54 with 15 minutes left. The Beavers scored another eight straight to go up 62-54 with 13 minutes left. Tennessee cut it to two before Oregon State took an eight point lead. The Vols cut it to one before the Beavers went up five with 1:25 left. Tennessee cut it to two and fouled Oregon State's Earl Martin with six seconds left, but Martin missed the front end of a one-and-one. Will Brantley then fouled Greg Bell with two seconds left. Bell hit both shots to tie the game at 86 and push the game into overtime.
In overtime, Bell missed the front end of a one-and one and LaMont McIntosh (a generally poor free throw shooter) hit two free throws to put the Beavers up 88-86. McIntosh logged five more rebounds and an assist but only the two points at the line. McIntosh's two free throws were part of a 10-2 Oregon State run (four points by Payton and four points by Brantley against two points by the Vols' Ronnie Reese), which put the Beavers up 96-88. Houston hit a two at the buzzer for the final score, 96-90. Payton finished with 39 points, 9 assists and five rebounds. Brantley finished with 24 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds. Haskin finished with 20 points and a rebound. Every starter from each team finished in double-figures. Tennessee's Greg Bell was the only Vol, who scored more than 18 with 24 points, 6 rebounds and an assist. Reese finished with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Lockhart finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds and an assist.
Oregon State won the Pac-10 regular season championship and were given a five seed in the Tournament. But Oregon State lost in the first round to Ball State 54-53. Tennessee finished fourth in the SEC and were invited to the NIT. Tennessee upset Memphis in Memphis 73-71 before bowing out to rival Vanderbilt 89-85. The Commodores wound up winning the NIT.
December 22, 1990 @ Corvallis, Oregon Oregon State 82 - Tennessee 66
Haskin, Lockhart and Payton all graduated after 1989-90. Tennessee started 5-2 with wins over Tennessee State, Kent State, Chattanooga, Austin Peay and Virginia Commonwealth but lost to the two teams with a pulse: Memphis and a road game against New Mexico. Oregon State beat Fresno State, Cal State Long Beach and Memphis but lost three road games to Illinois, New Orleans and Minnesota.
Tennessee jumped out to a four-point lead, but Oregon State came back to tie the game at nine with 15:05 left in the first half. Teo Alibegovic hit the first free throw to give the Beavers a 10-9 lead but missed the second free throw. Oregon State's Mario Jackson got the rebound on the miss and put back the rebound for a 12-9 lead. A couple of minutes later, Jackson fed Alibegovic for two and a foul. Alibegovic missed another free throw (the two free throw misses were his only two), but Jackson got a rebound off of a missed free throw and jammed the rebound home to put the Beavers up 22-13. Oregon State would score an additional six to put the Beavers up 28-13. Oregon State worked the score up to 50-30 at the half. After that point the Beavers never led by fewer than 14, winning 82-66.
Houston finished with 37 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, but most of the points came in the second half. Alibegovic finished with 26 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Oregon State's Charles McKinney added 21 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. The Beavers' Chad Scott had 14 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists.
Oregon State finished tied for fifth place in the Pac-10. Stanford, who finished tied in conference standings but with a slightly better overall record was invited to and won the NIT. The Beavers likely would have received an invite with one more conference win. Arizona won the Pac-10 and an additional three Pac-10 teams received invites. Tennessee finished dead last in the SEC but got hot late, winning three games into the SEC Championship Game before ultimately losing to Alabama. The top five SEC teams were invited to the Tournament. Alabama and Arizona each won two games to make it to the Sweet Sixteen before bowing out. Arizona State was the third best among the nine Pac-10 and SEC teams, winning a game. The other six invitees all were one-and-done.
The Far West Classic was the initial premier holiday basketball tournament, and the 1964 version was the fifth to be played at the Memorial Coliseum. Oregon State went dancing in 1964 but bowed out in the first round to Seattle in Eugene, which was unfortunate, because Oregon State was set to host the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight. Mel Counts (seventh pick in the draft) graduated at season's end and Slats Gill retired. Paul Valenti was hired as the head coach. Tennessee finished tied for second in the SEC behind Kentucky.
The Vols started undefeated in 1964-65, beating Richmond at the University of Tennessee Armory-Fieldhouse and then beating Georgia Tech and Florida State on the road. Tennessee then travelled across the country to play three games at the Memorial Coliseum, beating Portland and Oregon before playing Oregon State. The Beavers started 1964-65 with wins over Washington, Arizona State and Stanford and losses to #9 San Francisco and Cincinnati in Cincinnati. Oregon State beat Army and Northwestern en route to the Far West Classic Championship Game against Tennessee.
The Vols entered the game as the favorites. Tennessee's starting five were bigger and taller than Oregon State's starting five. The Vols were led by Ron Widby. Widby was a four-sport athlete, lettering baseball, basketball, golf and football at Tennessee. In his senior year, he was named an All-American the SEC basketball Player of the Year and was drafted by the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Buccaneers of the ABA and the New Orleans Saints. After dropping baseball, he picked up golf and earned a letter. He dropped golf his senior year, in order to be able to negotiate his contract with the Saints. The Saints cut him, but he was signed by the Cowboys and played for the Cowboys for five years, winning a Super Bowl and playing in a Pro Bowl. Widby played another two years for the Packers before rupturing his spine in a freak accident toward the end of the 1973 season. Tennessee also featured center/power forward Red Robbins, who would go on to play in the ABA for nine years and another year in Italy. Robbins would finish his career fourth all-time in rebounds in the ABA.
Tennessee mostly relied on a zone defense. Oregon State responded by slowing its offense to a near crawl, slowly building a 22-8 halftime lead. The Beavers continued to pour it on in the second half, leading by as many as 22 before winning 48-27. Oregon State's senior guard, Jim Jarvis, led all scorers with 14 points. Charlie White added another 11 points. Widby finished with three points and seven rebounds. Robbins was held scoreless and held to only one rebound.
Oregon State finished fourth in the AAWU. UCLA won the AAWU and National Championship. Tennessee finished second in the SEC to Vanderbilt. The Commodores lost in the Elite Eight to eventual runner-up Michigan by two.
December 23, 1970 @ Knoxville, Tennessee #12 Tennessee 89 - Oregon State 61
Paul Valenti retired at the end of the 1969-70 season and was replaced by Ralph Miller. Miller started by defeating Oklahoma State twice and Utah and BYU before taking Oregon State across the country to play #7 Kentucky and #12 Tennessee on the road on consecutive nights. The Wildcats won 84-78. The Vols were undefeated on the season with wins over #17 Houston, Wake Forest on the road and San Francisco and Providence in Knoxville. Tennessee had three days of rest after the Providence game, while Oregon State had was playing the second day in a row. Tennessee was up 40-27 at the half and cruised for a 89-61 win. Four Vols wound up in double figures. The Beavers' Mike Keck scored 19 and Gary Erickson scored 10.
Oregon State finished sixth in the Pac-8. UCLA won the AAWU and National Championship. Tennessee finished second in the SEC to Kentucky.
December 10, 1989 @ Knoxville, Tennessee #24 Oregon State 96 - Tennessee 90 OT
Ralph Miller retired at the end of the 1988-89 season and was replaced by Jimmie Anderson. Anderson started by defeating Marquette, Arizona State and #2 Arizona before dropping a game to #16 Memphis in Memphis 78-72. Tennessee narrowly beat Autsin Peay and beat New Mexico at home and lost to Memphis by 19 at Memphis and East Tennessee State at home. The Vols were led by guard Allan Houston and center Ian Lockhart. The Beavers were led by guard Gary Payton and center Scott Haskin.
Six-and-a-half minutes in, Tennessee led 18-10. The Volunteers led by as many as 12 before the Beavers fought back to 45-39 at halftime. Tennessee had 22 rebounds to Oregon State's 12 at the break. Payton was held to 13 first half points. Payton scored the Beavers first eight points of the second half. Oregon State went on a 4-0 run to tie it at 54 with 15 minutes left. The Beavers scored another eight straight to go up 62-54 with 13 minutes left. Tennessee cut it to two before Oregon State took an eight point lead. The Vols cut it to one before the Beavers went up five with 1:25 left. Tennessee cut it to two and fouled Oregon State's Earl Martin with six seconds left, but Martin missed the front end of a one-and-one. Will Brantley then fouled Greg Bell with two seconds left. Bell hit both shots to tie the game at 86 and push the game into overtime.
In overtime, Bell missed the front end of a one-and one and LaMont McIntosh (a generally poor free throw shooter) hit two free throws to put the Beavers up 88-86. McIntosh logged five more rebounds and an assist but only the two points at the line. McIntosh's two free throws were part of a 10-2 Oregon State run (four points by Payton and four points by Brantley against two points by the Vols' Ronnie Reese), which put the Beavers up 96-88. Houston hit a two at the buzzer for the final score, 96-90. Payton finished with 39 points, 9 assists and five rebounds. Brantley finished with 24 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds. Haskin finished with 20 points and a rebound. Every starter from each team finished in double-figures. Tennessee's Greg Bell was the only Vol, who scored more than 18 with 24 points, 6 rebounds and an assist. Reese finished with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Lockhart finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds and an assist.
Oregon State won the Pac-10 regular season championship and were given a five seed in the Tournament. But Oregon State lost in the first round to Ball State 54-53. Tennessee finished fourth in the SEC and were invited to the NIT. Tennessee upset Memphis in Memphis 73-71 before bowing out to rival Vanderbilt 89-85. The Commodores wound up winning the NIT.
December 22, 1990 @ Corvallis, Oregon Oregon State 82 - Tennessee 66
Haskin, Lockhart and Payton all graduated after 1989-90. Tennessee started 5-2 with wins over Tennessee State, Kent State, Chattanooga, Austin Peay and Virginia Commonwealth but lost to the two teams with a pulse: Memphis and a road game against New Mexico. Oregon State beat Fresno State, Cal State Long Beach and Memphis but lost three road games to Illinois, New Orleans and Minnesota.
Tennessee jumped out to a four-point lead, but Oregon State came back to tie the game at nine with 15:05 left in the first half. Teo Alibegovic hit the first free throw to give the Beavers a 10-9 lead but missed the second free throw. Oregon State's Mario Jackson got the rebound on the miss and put back the rebound for a 12-9 lead. A couple of minutes later, Jackson fed Alibegovic for two and a foul. Alibegovic missed another free throw (the two free throw misses were his only two), but Jackson got a rebound off of a missed free throw and jammed the rebound home to put the Beavers up 22-13. Oregon State would score an additional six to put the Beavers up 28-13. Oregon State worked the score up to 50-30 at the half. After that point the Beavers never led by fewer than 14, winning 82-66.
Houston finished with 37 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, but most of the points came in the second half. Alibegovic finished with 26 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Oregon State's Charles McKinney added 21 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. The Beavers' Chad Scott had 14 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists.
Oregon State finished tied for fifth place in the Pac-10. Stanford, who finished tied in conference standings but with a slightly better overall record was invited to and won the NIT. The Beavers likely would have received an invite with one more conference win. Arizona won the Pac-10 and an additional three Pac-10 teams received invites. Tennessee finished dead last in the SEC but got hot late, winning three games into the SEC Championship Game before ultimately losing to Alabama. The top five SEC teams were invited to the Tournament. Alabama and Arizona each won two games to make it to the Sweet Sixteen before bowing out. Arizona State was the third best among the nine Pac-10 and SEC teams, winning a game. The other six invitees all were one-and-done.
