The First Family visited the Smith Center today to watch the Oregon State University Beavers top the GW Colonials 65-57.
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, the Obama children, and Michelle's mother Marian were on hand because Michelle's brother Craig is the head coach for Oregon State, now 2-3.
Despite the enormity of the event the White House and GW Athletics kept the event quiet with many within the Smith Center only told to make preparations in the event the president decided to attend. Obama was not announced during the game, nor did the GW Band play "Hail to the Chief" as initially expected.
Instead, the President is reported by students within the Smith Center to be reserved but eating popcorn, cheering for the teams, and shaking the hands of the students, faculty, and staff who approached him.
First Lady Michelle Obama was seen clapping along with the routine of the First Ladies, GW's aptly named dance team. Following the game the players from both teams shook hands with the President and First Lady. The Oregon State Beavers had met the President at the White House earlier in the week.
WRGW News was the first campus outlet to confirm his visit.
As for the game, Oregon State dominated early after a series of turnovers lead to a 16-0 lead. It took 5 1/2 minutes for the Colonials to sink a basket, a dunk by senior Herman Opoku.
The Colonials rallied to within 10 points going into half time. At the beginning of the second half GW clawed back to within six. OSU responded with a 21-7 run.
Minutes before the game ended, with GW closing the gap, chants of "Yes We Can!" broke out, a throwback to the 2008 presidential campaign. It wasn't enough and the Colonials fell 64-57.
“Oregon State took control from the outset,” GW coach Karl Hobbs said after the game and sent to WRGW News in a press release. “I thought that we had to play catch-up through the entire game. We had a tough time shooting the basketball and we couldn’t make shots from the outside consistently. We played like we never felt we were out of the game.”
Given how we started out, this is a really big win,” OSU's Craig Robinson said in the press release. “Coach Hobbs prepared his team very well. This game was extremely important for us. We hadn’t played well yet. We really needed to have a good start. We got a chance to take our team to the White House but it was really important to win the game to make this trip a treat.”
The win puts Robinson one win over .500 for his coaching career (50-49). He now has a 20-21 record in his second season at OSU.
Game attendance was 2,401 at the 5,000-seat Charles E. Smith Center, according to GW Athletics. It was the second time a sitting President watched a GW Men's Basketball game. Former President Bill Clinton was in attendance February 4, 1995.
GW (4-1) hosts George Mason (3-3) Wednesday, December 2 at 7 p.m. at Smith Center. Students may attend for free by getting their G-World cards validated at the Marvin Center Ticketmaster.
Watch the post-game highlights HERE courtesy of GW Athletics. Please be patient as the video loads.
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