With the official release of the Kent State basketball schedule on Tuesday, Oregon State has now filled seven of their non-conference clashes for the 2017-2018 season. On December 21st, the Beavers will be taking a trip to Kent, Ohio to meet up against the Golden Flashes in a return game from last year’s match-up in Corvallis. In that contest, the Beavers picked up one of their few victories on the season, knocking off Kent State in a 69-50 outing, behind a surprise performance from guard Kendal Manuel.
The addition of the Golden Flashes begins to fill in next season’s slate for Oregon State, who recently learned that St. John’s would be their first-round draw in the 2017 Advocare Invitational this winter. The Red Storm, who are part of an eight-team field that includes the likes of Long Beach State, Marist, Missouri, Nebraska, UCF and West Virginia, are coming off a 14-19 season overall. However, the Johnnies return two of the best guards in the Big East, in rising sophomores Shamorie Ponds (17.4 PPG) and Marcus LoVett (15.9 PPG). St. John’s will be the Beavers first Big East opponent since December of 2014, when they routed DePaul in a 90-59 victory.
While the Beavers three games in the Advocare event may bring some NCAA Tournament-level competition, the recently released meeting with Kent State simply adds to a fairly pedestrian out-of-league portion of the schedule for next season. The other contests already on the Beavers list includes match-ups against Saint Louis at the Moda Center in Portland, Southern Utah and Wyoming. Dates, times and locations for these games unless previously noted have not been announced or made official.
If Oregon State wants to rebound from last year’s abysmal 5-27 outing and attempt to make a return to the big dance, they’ll have to impress during the non-conference portion of the schedule with some signature and defining wins. However, a lighter slate (by general standards) could mean this is a confident and surging Beavers team as they head into Pac-12 play, where the chances for quality victories will increase. Oregon State has yet to officially release their full non-conference schedule for the 2017-2018 season.