Wright State Men’s Basketball Welcomes Oakland to Town for Thursday Rematch

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Photo courtesy of Wright State Athletics/Nick Phillips

The Wright State Raiders men’s basketball team will be at home for a rematch with the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on Thursday, January 8 at 7ET at the Nutter Center. The game can be seen live on ESPN Plus. The green and gold are 5-1 at home.

Last time out: The Raiders snapped a three-game losing streak at home by taking out the conference’s worst team, the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix, in a 74-51 beating. Clint Sargent’s crew shot 48 percent overall from the field (29-of-60), 38 percent on 3-pointers (8-of-21) and 67 percent at the stripe (8-of-12) all while dishing 20 assists.

Brandon Noel led everyone with 20 points (7-of-12 FG), Logan Woods almost had a triple-double (14 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists), Jack Doumbia had 11 points, and Michael Imariagbe recorded 6 points and 12 rebounds.

Andrea Holden, a freshman, made his NCAA debut a memorable one for the ages. Originally supposed to be a redshirt, Holden came off the bench and did pretty much everything by recording 11 points, seven rebounds, two steals, and two blocks.

Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Jeremiah Johnson, another freshman, was the only Phoenix player to score in double-figures with 14 points; while Preston Ruedinger scored 8 points and collected 3 steals. Yonatan Levy – a 23-year old 6-9 freshman from Israel – made his NCAA debut as well, recording five points and pulling down six rebounds off the bench. It was the Phoenix’s 11th consecutive defeat.

About the opponent and their coach: The Golden Grizzlies, who are the defending and undisputed Horizon League Champions, are currently in a three-way tie with both Wright State and Robert Morris for 6th place in the Horizon League standings (2-3 in conference play each). However, Robert Morris owns the tiebreaker with an overall 10-6 record, followed by Wright State at 8-8 and Oakland at 5-11.

Golden Grizzlies legendary head coach Greg Kampe is in his 41st season and has 704 wins for his career, all of which have come with Oakland. Most recently, Kampe went viral for crashing the press conference of Michigan State’s Tom Izzo following the Spartans’ 77-58 win over Oakland on December 17 in East Lansing. Both coaches wore matching green holiday sweaters for the game.

Last matchup: Oakland actually beat Wright State 66-64 at home last month in a game that went down to the wire, with Allen Mukeba hitting the game winner with 1:04 to go. Brandon Noel, Logan Woods, and Alex Huibregtse then all missed potential go-ahead threes as WSU ended up with the hard-luck loss. Huibregtse was the only Raider that scored in double-figures with 12.

Jaylen Jones, made his season debut for Oakland and led everyone with nine rebounds along with his two points in 22 minutes of action off the bench. Allen Mukeba led Oakland with 16 points, while Buru Naivalurua had 14 points, Jayson Woodrich had 12 points, and Nassim Mashhour had eight points off the bench.

Wright State men’s starting lineup
• Brandon Noel (noll), F (6-8/240, R-Jr.) – 19.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 1.2 bpg, 1.2 spg, 55.7% FG, 81.5% FT
• Michael Imariagbe (eh-mar-ee-bay), F (6-7/220, Sr., transfer from Houston Christian) – 5.2 points, 4 rebounds; started nine games, including last Thursday
• Jack Doumbia, F (6-6/210, R-Sr., transfer from Norfolk State) – 12.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.1 bpg, 1.3 spg; started eight games
• Alex Huibregtse (HUE-bricks), G (6-3/205, R-Sr.) — 14.4 points, 3.4 reb, 3.3 apg, 40.7% 3-PT FG
• Logan Woods (6-5/185, R-Soph.) – 8.4 points, 47.2% 3-PT

Wright State men’s rotation players
• Solomon Callaghan, G (6-2/195, R-Fr.) – 5.8 ppg, 37.8% 3-PT in 15 games (one start)
• Andrew Welage, G (6-6/205, Gr.) – 2.6 ppg
• Drey Carter, F (6-8/210, R-Soph.) – 3.3 ppg, 1.4 rpg in 15 games (one start); did not play last Thursday (coach’s decision)
• Andrea Holden, W (6-6/215, Fr.) – earned the Horizon League Freshman of the Week after his debut last Thursday

Wright State injuries
• Keaton Norris, G (6-0/175, R-Jr.) – 5.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 4.7 apg, 1.5 spg, played and started in 13 games; missed the team’s last three games with a thigh bruise, and it’s uncertain when he’ll return

Rest of Wright State’s roster: https://wsuraiders.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Oakland starting lineup
• Buru Naivalurua, F (6-6/239, Sr.) – 12.1 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 1.1 spg; played and started in 15 games
• Allen Mukeba, F (6-6/247, Gr., UMKC transfer) – 13.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 0.9 spg; played and started in 15 games
• Isaiah Jones, G/F (6-7/229, Jr.) – 6.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 0.7 spg, 41.3% 3-PT; started eight of 10 games played
• D.Q. Cole, G (6-3/222, Sr.) – 10.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 77.3% FT
• Malcolm Christie, G (6-5/185, Sr., Dalhousie University transfer) – 10.4 ppg; started the last six games

Oakland rotation players
• Jaylen Jones, G (6-1/160, Soph., Tennessee State transfer) – 6.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.5 apg; started one game
• Jayson Woodrich, G/F (6-7/205, Gr., Cleveland State transfer) – 4.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.9 spg; started the first 10 games
• Deng Majak, F (6-9/182, Jr.) – 0.6 ppg, 1.3 rpg; started two games
• Nassim Mashhour, G (6-5/200, Fr.) – 1.5 ppg, 0.6 rpg; played 13 games (one start)
• Cooper Craggs, F (6-5/224, R-Soph.) – 3.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg; started six games

Rest of Oakland’s roster: https://goldengrizzlies.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Series history: Wright State leads the all-time series 20-12.

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