Spring Break
Men's basketball to host Southern Oregon in exhibition
OSU men's basketball team opens play with Sunday exhibition game at legendary Gill Coliseum
Nic Adenau
Issue date: 10/28/09 Section: Sports
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The Daily Barometer
As the Oregon State men's basketball team returns to play, they open up the preseason with an exhibition game this Sunday against Southern Oregon at 2 p.m. at Gill Coliseum.
The Southern Oregon Raiders are led by coach Brain McDermott, who finished last season with an overall record of 10-20 and 7-13 in the Cascade Conference.
Senior guard Jarrad Childs and junior point guard Austin Wolfer led the Raiders last season. Childs averaged 13.6 points per game, while Wolfer shot a field goal percentage of 60.
The 2 p.m. tipoff on Sunday will not only showcase Oregon State's returning team and their hopes for a winning season, but will also introduce the newly recruited class.
The Beavers will be presenting five new players on Sunday from the freshman class. The freshmen this year include Jared Cunningham, Roberto Nelson, Joe Burton, Angus Brandt and Rhys Murphy.
"We have some pretty good freshmen and a highly rated class," Robinson said. "There is going to be an adjustment period at each point for them, no matter how advanced they are."
Jared Cunningham looks to be the Beavers' biggest addition from the freshman class this season, helping improve the team's defense.
"Jared probably right now has a head start on everybody else defensively." Robinson said.
Sunday's exhibition game against Southern Oregon will be an opportunity for the new freshmen to get a feel of how basketball is paced at the college level. Also, after a hyped-up offseason, Beaver fans will finally get to see them in action.
Coach Robinson is looking to get the class some playing time in hopes that the team pulls off a win. As it looks right now, Sunday's starting lineup will be all returning players, but throughout the game the new class will slowly see playing time.
"We want to ease them (the freshmen) into it and see what they can do," Robinson said. "Their biggest place of contribution is going to be on defense."
Robinson hopes to not only get the freshmen some playing time, but the team as a whole as well.
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