Oakland falters late at No. 23 Arkansas

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Photo courtesy of Oakland Athletics

In the series of Greg Kampe vs. John Calipari, Coach Cal evened up the score at one apiece.

One could assume Kampe is ok with how the series has played out. 

On Monday, Oakland held tough for the majority of the night, but a late Arkansas avalanche pushed the final score to 92-62. 

As far as 30 point losses go, this went about as good as it good for the Golden Grizzlies. 

Oakland showed fight, going back forth with the #23 ranked Hogs the entire first half, even holding a 33-31 lead with about three minutes left in the half. Oakland was trailing 42-39 at the break. 

The second half saw Oakland do enough to hang in for most of it, but Arkansas high powered attack and athleticism was hard to handle. The deficit had gotten up to 72-58 with under five minutes to play, and Coach Kampe decided to take his foot off the gas. The lead ballooned to what the final was from there. 

For most of the time they were in the game, Oakland’s dynamic duo in the front court was in control. Buru Naivalurua posted 18 points and nine rebounds, while Allen Mukeba scored 17 points with six rebounds. They were able to keep Oakland within striking distance for a long time, and seem to be in a great spot heading into the meat of the league season.

The three-point line was not kind to the Golden Grizzlies however. Oakland shot 2-17 from behind the long line as a team. Malcolm Christie went 1-8 from three, perhaps a little regression to the mean after his recent torrid stretch. It is better to have that happen now than at home this weekend for sure. 

DQ Cole made the other Oakland three, but was just 1-4 from deep. He was 3-3 from two though, and scored nine points. 

Outside of that, there wasn’t much to report. Isaiah Jones scored six points and battled his way to five rebounds, and Jaylen Jones struggled around the rim against the athletes that Arkansas runs out. 

With the heavy travel after Hawaii, and the league season kicking back off on Thursday, Oakland is able to leave Fayetteville with one key thing. Health. It’s time to get some rest and buckle up for a big challenge on Thursday against Milwaukee, who was the preseason pick to win the league and is 3-0 on the young league season. 

That rematch of last year’s Horizon League Championship game will take place on Thursday at 7pm Eastern Time, before Robert Morris comes to Rochester on Saturday at 3pm Eastern Time. Both games will be on ESPN+.

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