COMING UP: vs. Cal Maritime, Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
 
GAME DAY INFORMATION: Each of the 28 regular-season games and all potential postseason contests will be carried live on 92.5 KLAD-FM with the Voice of the Hustlin' Owls, Mike Safford Jr., on the call. Radio broadcasts begin 30 minutes prior to tip-off with the Justin Parnell Coaches Show. The broadcast will be simulcast with Live Video on the Owls Sports Network, with Live Stats through OIT's SIDEARM Stats Portal. Tickets for Saturday's game and all OIT home events are on sale through the Athletics Ticket Portal.
 
MULTIMEDIA: Photos from the 2024-25 season (including Media Day) are posted online via the OIT Men's Basketball Flickr Page, while highlight clips will be posted online via the OIT Men's Basketball YouTube Channel.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – CAL MARITIME: Tech opens the home schedule on Saturday, hosting NAIA foe Cal Maritime from Vallejo. The Keelhaulers, who open the season Tuesday at Sacramento State, finished 2023-24 with a 5-22 record – making just 41-percent of their field goals and allowing 81 points per game. CMA returns the bulk of their lineup, including 6-foot-3 senior all-conference guard Lucky Hampton (11.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg). Guards Alex Maze (7.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg), D.J. Henry (7.6 ppg, 3.0 apg) and llyaas Rafiq (7.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg) return, as does senior forward DeAndre Minor (9.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg).
 
HISTORY VS. THE KEELHAULERS: CMA is the lone Cal Pac team to have a winning record against the Hustlin' Owls, winning 5-of-8 meetings. The Keelhaulers are 5-0 vs. Tech in California, with OIT recording a 94-73 win in 2017 and a 103-79 win in 2019 in the only games at Danny Miles Court, along with a win in the first-ever meeting during the 2000-01 season in Ashland.
 
AGAINST THE CAL PAC: Over the last 30 years, OIT has played all but one California Pacific Conference team (Westcliff), posting a combined 139-11 all-time record. Of the current eight members of the league, the Owls have a combined 68-6 mark against Cal Pac foes.
 
WHERE DID THE CAL PAC GO?: The Cal Pac has turned into a feeder league – as 12 teams have left the conference to join other circuits and five other schools have closed their doors permanently. Of the eight current teams – Soka and La Sierra are headed next season to the Great Southwest Athletic Conference, UC Merced is joining the NCAA in 2025-26, with Cal Maritime planning to leave the NAIA following this season – leaving Simpson, Pacific Union, Westcliff and Providence Christian as the lone remaining members.
 
HOME OPENER STREAK ON THE LINE: The Owls will put a 22-game win streak in home openers on the line this Saturday against Cal Maritime. OIT is 64-10 to open their home schedule, with the last loss in 2001 against Chico State.
 
SUCCESS IN DANNY'S HOUSE: Since OIT moved to their current campus in 1964, the Hustlin' Owls have had a decisive home floor advantage inside the Athletic Center – winning over 81-percent of their home games. Over the last 60 seasons Tech has played on what is now known as Danny Miles Court, the Owls hold a 786-179 overall record in the building – including an 99-19 mark under current head coach Justin Parnell. OIT has recorded a winning record in 57-of-59 seasons (going 5-7 in 1965-66 and 1-8 in 1970-71), including undefeated records four times (1986-87, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11). The Owls ended last season 12-3 at home, their 53rd-straight winning season on their home floor.
 
OWLS SPLIT IN MONTANA: The Hustlin' Owls opened the 2024-25 season in Helena, Mont. – splitting games at the Comfort Suites Classic. Tech started tourney play with a convincing 90-77 win over the University of Providence, before a late Carroll College run gave the Fighting Saints an 83-78 win. For the weekend, OIT connected on 52-percent of their field goal attempts (66-of-124), recorded a plus-8 rebound margin, while recording a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. On the flip side, the Owls struggled from 3-point range, making 6-of-21 attempts in both contests.
 
COOPER SHINES IN BIG SKY COUNTRY: Tech got a huge effort in the Treasure State from forward Jackson Cooper, who averaged 17 points and eight rebounds a game against the Frontier Conference schools. The sophomore led the Owls in the win over Providence, scoring a career-high 26 points – with Cooper finishing the trip 16-of-23 from the field and adding seven assists.
 
GUERRA PICKS UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF: Last season, Jamison Guerra led the NAIA in assists and assists per game, earning All-America honors. The senior opened his final year in similar fashion, scoring 16 points with eight assists vs. Providence, adding 10 points and five assists against Carroll.  Guerra had a 13-to-1 assist to turnover ratio, moving within seven assists of the 500-assist mark for his career, while against UP, became the 27th player to log 100 steals in an OIT career.
 
JENSEN DOMINATES THE BLOCK: It was a dominating performance in the paint by senior post Blake Jensen in Saturday's match-up with Carroll, finishing the night 7-of-8 from the field, scoring a team-high 19 points – one point shy of his career high. Jensen, who led the Cascade Conference in field goal percentage last year, ended the trip to Montana making 9-of-10 field goals, averaging 12 points and five rebounds per game.
 
REBER MAKES LONG AWAITED DEBUT: After waiting 20 months between games, Dakota Reber finally made his OIT debut in Montana and was key for the Owls off the bench. The transfer made 9-of-17 field goals on the trip, including 3-of-6 3-point attempts, averaging 10.5 points per game. Reber was key against Carroll, finishing the night with 14 points and three assists.
 
MORE FROM MONTANA: The Owls got production from multiple players at the opening tournament, including Kam Osborn, who had 14 points vs. Carroll – the 43rd double-digit scoring game of his career. Keegan Shivers recorded 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. Providence, his12th career double-double, while Erik Fraser opened his senior season scoring 19 points vs. UP, connecting on 3-of-6 shots from 3-point range.
 
AROUND THE LEAGUE: Last week, four CCC teams went to Montana – with OIT and Bushnell each defeating Providence and losing to Carroll, with Walla Walla and Evergreen State getting swept by Montana Tech and Montana Western. Two teams earned wins – Multnomah over Simpson and LC State over Haskell. This week, all 12 teams will be on the court, with key match-ups including College of Idaho and LC State hosting Providence and Dickinson State, Southern Oregon and Eastern Oregon heading to Carroll and MSU-Northern, Corban traveling to The Master's and Arizona Christian, with Multnomah and Warner Pacific hosting Park-Gilbert.
 
TECH RANKED #16, PICKED SECOND IN CCC: The Hustlin' Owls earn a spot in the NAIA Top-25 poll to start a year for the sixth time in seven seasons, with No. 16-ranked OIT in the Top-25 for the sixth-straight polling period. Tech received 255 voter points from the 20 conference raters – one of three Cascade Conference teams in the rating. Defending CCC regular-season champ, College of Idaho, is ranked No. 2, with Lewis-Clark State ranked No. 25. In the CCC preseason poll, C of I earned 9-of-12 first-place votes to take the top spot, followed by OIT and LC State – the eighth-straight year the Owls were among the Top-3 in the CCC balloting.
 
RECORD BOOK:  Six players rank among the Top-75 of the Hustlin' Owls career record book, led by Keegan Shivers, who ranks No. 4 in 3-pointers made (229) and 3-point attempts (569), No. 13 in rebounds (634), No. 17 in field goal attempts (980) and in points scored (1,242), No. 26 in field goals made (424), No. 33 in assists (243), No. 41 in steals (79), No. 49 in games played (103), No. 52 in free throws made (165), No. 59 in blocked shots (18) and No. 60 in free throw attempts (207). Jamison Guerra is No. 7 in assists (493), No. 20 in free throws made (229), No. 24 in free throw attempts (294), No. 27 in steals (102), No. 34 in field goal attempts (810), No. 36 in 3-point attempts (266) and in points scored (1,027), No. 43 in field goals made (361), No. 49 in games played (103) and No. 56 in 3-pointers made (76); Kam Osborn is No. 37 in 3-point attempts (261), No. 38 in 3-pointers made (95), No. 58 in field goal attempts (652), No. 60 in assists (167) and free throws made (154), No. 61 in free throw attempts (206), No. 63 in points scored (831) and No. 68 in field goals made (291); Erik Fraser is No. 35 in 3-point attempts (268), No. 40 in 3-pointers made (94), No. 58 in steals (61), No. 60 in games played (87) and No. 71 in blocked shots (15); Blake Jensen is No. 34 in blocked shots (31), No. 58 in free throw attempts (223), No. 62 in free throws made (152), No. 66 in games played (81) and No. 67 in both rebounds (367); with Jay Elmore is No. 31 in 3-pointers made (104) and No. 42 in 3-point attempts (248).
 
OVER 1,000-STRAIGHT GAMES WITH A 3-POINTER: The 3-point shot has been key to the Hustlin' Owls success over the years, with Tech extending their string of games with a made 3-pointer to 1,018. OIT last failed to make a 3-pointer on Dec. 4, 1992, at Humboldt State, going 0-for-7 from outside the arch. During the current streak, the Owls made one 3-pointer in a game on five occasions. UNLV holds the current 3-point streak record (1,228), just ahead of CCC rival Corban (1,210), Duke (1,190) and College of Idaho (1,163).
 
LITHIA CLASSIC RETURNS NEXT WEEK: The Owls 4-game homestand continues with the busiest weekend of the year, as four men's and four women's teams will compete in the Lithia Classic. Arizona Christian and Linfield will join OIT and Southern Oregon on the men's half of the draw.