The postseason is in full swing.
Not only are there conference tournament results, but it is award season as well. Already this week, Oakland has taken an interest in both of those things, as the quarterfinal pairings were set, and the Horizon League released their awards. Tuesday’s games went as expected, and Oakland will take on Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday night. Monday saw a multitude of Golden Grizzlies take home league honors.
To start, Trey Townsend was named Horizon League player of the year. The fourth year man averaged team highs with 16.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game as well as 3 assists per game this year. Townsend also led the league in minutes per game, playing almost 36 per game. He added 1.3 steals and .3 blocks per game as well. He is currently the only player in Division 1 to average at least all of those totals. He was unequivocally the number one guy for the Golden Grizzlies all year, and led the team to its first ever outright regular season Horizon League title. Townsend also was named to the league’s first team.
Blake Lampman emerged as a nice number two for Oakland in his fifth season, and this led to him being named to the league’s second team. Lampman put up 13.8 points, a team high 3.2 assists and 3 rebounds per game. Lampman broke the school record for games played in a career, and also ranks fourth in the country in threes per game.
Lampman made his share of threes this year, but Jack Gohlke made a few more. He ranks tied for second in the country in threes per game, while shooting over 36% from deep. Gohlke averaged 12 points and 4 boards per contest, en route to being named Horizon League 6th man of the year.
While awards season was kind to the Golden Grizzlies, the focus all year was not on garnering these accolades, it was on postseason play.
8th seeded Purdue Fort Wayne defeated Robert Morris in the opening round of the tournament at home to move on to the quarterfinals. The Mastodons controlled the game the entire time, and will feel good coming into town.
Although the Dons are seeded where they are, this is not your typical 8th seed. PFW comes in with a 21-11 record, a win at a Big East school in the noncon, and a 98-77 victory at Oakland already in hand. PFW comes in ranked 157 in Kenpom, which ranks fourth in the league.
Jalen Jackson and Rasheed Bello lead Purdue Fort Wayne, and were both named to the league’s third team. Bello was also announced a member of the All-Defensive team, along with his teammate Anthony Roberts. When adding in Quinton Morton Robertson, it gives the Dons four players between 13 and 16 points per game, making them hard to guard.
Oakland won the second matchup between the two teams in Fort Wayne, and it was in large part because of the defensive effort. At Oakland, down Blake Lampman, the Mastodons jumped on Oakland to start both halves, particularly on the offensive end. Oakland shut that momentum down in the last game, and pulled out a victory. The start of this game will be imperative to the final outcome.
Since moving to quarterfinal games at campus sites, the home team has won 15 of 16 games in the Horizon League Tournament. The goal all year for Oakland was to finish as a top four seed to give itself the best chance to get to Indy. They got what they wanted and more, and now it is time to execute.
The winner moves on to play Monday night in the semifinals in Indianapolis. The league will reseed once again, so if Oakland were to win, they would play the worst remaining seed in the semis.
Thursday’s game in the O’rena will tip off at 7pm on ESPN+.
