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According to a tweet from CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, the Oregon State Beavers will play the Iowa Hawkeyes in a neutral site game at the famous Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota during the 2020-2021 season.
Sources: Iowa will face Oregon State in a neutral site game at the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) June 10, 2020
The Oregonian went on to report that a potential “proposed date of the game is Dec. 22nd”.
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An opponent like Iowa should be an extremely tough task for a retooling Oregon State team, as the Hawkeyes are a consensus Top Ten team in the country. In our “Way-Too-Early 2020-2021 College Basketball Top 25”, we ranked Iowa as the #7 team in the land, with the likelihood of moving up into the top-five nationally, if reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Luka Garza returns from testing the NBA Draft process.
Outside of Garza, head coach Fran McCaffrey should also return the rest of his remaining starters and key sixth man from last year’s team that includes Joe Wieskamp, CJ Fredrick, Connor McCaffery, Jordan Bohannon and Joe Toussaint.
In a bit of a quirky tidbit, the Beavers seem to be making a strong connection with the “Hawkeye State” this upcoming season, as they’ll also make a return road trip to Ames to square off with the Hawkeyes in-state rival, the Iowa State Cyclones.
Oregon State knocked off the Cyclones 80-74 last year in Corvallis, helped by a strong 27-point performance from forward Tres Tinkle.