UTEP and Oregon State, finalists in this second annual College Basketball Invitational best-of-three championship series, will go at it in Game 2 on Wednesday night in the Don Haskins Center. Oregon State took Game 1, 75-69, in the great atmosphere at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore.

“Seemed like Cameron Indoor (at Duke) or something,” UTEP sophomore Gabe McCulley said of the 8,029 fans in Gill. “It was a great atmosphere. Everybody was jumping up and down and you couldn’t hear anything.”

A group from the Admissions Office made it to Gill Monday night and we all agreed that this is the loudest we have heard Gill in a long, long time. Admittedly, the OSU basketball program has struggled over the last decade or so and this has greatly affected the game day atmosphere at Legendary Gill Coliseum. I think you’d have to admit that the echoes have re-awoken at Gill!

A gentleman who was sitting in front of my colleague, Danté Holloway and I turned around and exclaimed “you guys don’t understand! It used to be like this every night!!

Here’s a picture from right after the game ended courtesy of Alicia Ortega:

GO BEAVERS!

There are some more great shots of the game at oregonlive.com.

You can catch the game tonight on HD Net (if you happen to have it). Or, you can follow the call of five time Oregon Sportscaster of the Year, Mike Parker on KPAM 860 online anywhere in the world.

It has been so great to witness this basketball rebirth on campus. Here’s to many more years of success under Coach Robinson!

GO BEAVS!
-jm