Often in sports, a team is judged by how it responds to adversity. Particularly in a long season like college basketball, there will almost undoubtedly be some bad breaks throughout the year.
For Oakland, adversity hit this week, with a double-digit loss to Wright State. The opportunity to bounce back presented itself on Thursday, with a nationally televised game at Milwaukee.
Opportunity became victory, as Oakland handled the Panthers on the road by a score of 73-60.
After falling behind 41-14 on Sunday, the Golden Grizzlies jumped out to a 9-0 advantage right away. That lead didn’t fall below six points the rest of the game.
“Tim McCormick was on the call for ESPN and and said to me this morning, you are going to find out about your team today, aren’t you,” head coach Greg Kampe said. “I said yep. After Sunday it was time to find out about us.”
Michael Houge answered some of the questions about what kind of team Oakland had early. He scored 16 in the first 10 minutes of the game, ending the game with 19 points and seven rebounds.
The Golden Grizzlies did not have their usual offensive output outside of Houge, but had their best defensive game of the season. Milwaukee was held to 34% shooting from the floor.
“Years and years ago we had a women’s basketball coach here who called games like this dentist office games,” Kampe said postgame. “That was a dentist office game.”
Oakland only shot 4-of-16 from three, but Brett White II made 3-of-7 from deep. He had 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Isaac Garrett missed a few open looks, but managed to post 13 points and 12 boards for his fifth double double of the season. All five of those games have come in the last nine contests.
Brody Robinson struggled from the floor and had seven turnovers, but was big down the stretch from the free throw line, making 12-of-14 of those shots. He had 17 points and four assists.
Buru Naivalurua and Ziare Wells each only made two field goals; Naivalurua did have 10 boards. Khoi Thurmon and Warren Marshall IV each had a basket as well. Marshall IV beat the halftime buzzer with a put-back layup.
The win served as Oakland’s 10th win of the season, and moved them to 6-2 in Horizon League play. They remain one game behind Wright State.
The Golden Grizzlies are tied at 6-2 with Green Bay, making Sunday’s tilt between the two schools a big early contest in league play. Green Bay has won six-straight league games after starting 0-2, and are led by a foursome of double digit scorers.
Marcus Hall is Green Bay’s leading scorer and rebounder at 13.8 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game. CJ O’Hara is second in both of those categories. Justin Allen scores 12.8 points per game, while Preston Ruedinger scores over 11 a game and leads the team in assists at over five per contest.
The game Sunday will tip off at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN+.
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