Most people head home for Thanksgiving.

The Oregon State men's basketball team is far from home this holiday. But they might just spend some time in a family setting.

The Beavers are in Washington, D.C., for a game at George Washington on Saturday. The team was scheduled to arrive this morning and spend a chunk of Thanksgiving day at practice.

On the surface it doesn't seem like the ideal holiday weekend.

This trip is a little different. And it could be special for the players.

Coach Craig Robinson is the brother of first lady Michelle Obama. There is a possibility that the Beavers will be able to visit and maybe even have dinner at the White House.

"I will probably be able to get to see my family and depending on the schedule I'm going to try and see if we can bring the team over on Friday before the game on Saturday," Robinson said.

The side trip would be a great experience for the players if it works out, but it's not the focus of the visit to Washington.

The Beavers have a game to play and it will be a tough test. No road trip will be easy for OSU and this one is no exception.

The Colonials are an Atlantic 10 Conference program with a solid history. GWU has made the NCAA tournament nine times, the last in 2007.

"It doesn't get any easier, but that's sort of by design," Robinson said. "It's going to be a tough go. George Washington's very up-tempo (and) they regularly play 10 guys. They want to put pressure on you the entire time you're playing against them."

George Washington finished 10-18 last year but return three starters and nine letterwinners. They are off to a quick start this season at 4-0 after defeating Princeton 65-50 on Tuesday night.

The Colonials will be ready for the Beavers after getting a good look at a similar system on Tuesday when they played Princeton at home.

The Charles E. Smith Center holds 5,000 fans and it could be pushing capacity on Saturday.

"It's going to be one of those games where they've got a Pac-10 school coming to their home and they want to beat the living daylights out of us," Robinson said. "It will be our first road game that might be, intensity-wise, as close to a Pac-10 Conference game."

Freshman Joe Burton said Robinson and his staff have warned the team not to let the crowd and atmosphere to get in their heads.

"It's going to be a big crowd, a lot of fans and just a tough environment to play in," Burton said. "But we can come (through) if we just play the way we practice and work hard and not give easy points, we'll be victorious."

It's an opportunity for the Beavers to get a big road win and get their season back on a winning track.

And, just maybe, a little extra.

"That's going to be real exciting to go out there, travel pretty far across the states and just go out there and have a good game and (maybe) have dinner in the White House," freshman guard Jared Cunningham said. "That will be very exciting. That's something will be looking forward to. Probably the best meal we'll ever have."