Rochester, Mich. (Feb. 8, 2006) ???C Oakland???s men???s basketball team will start the final home weekend of its schedule with a game against Oral Roberts in the O???Rena on Thursday night beginning at 7 p.m. The Golden Grizzlies will look to rebound from a loss at IUPUI last weekend against the Golden Eagles. Oakland has won the last two home games and started the second half of the Mid-Con season with a 2-1 mark. ORU comes into Rochester on a four-game winning streak and is second in the Mid-Con standings. Rick Billings (Detroit, Mich.) has had a hot hand of late, averaging 16.3 points over the last three games after matching his career-high of 19 at IUPUI last Saturday. About the Golden Grizzlies Oakland will look to rebound from a road loss last Saturday at IUPUI with a pair of games at home this week. Despite the loss, OU has started the second half of the Mid-Con season 2-1 that has enabled the Golden Grizzlies to move up a two spots in the Mid-Con standings. Oakland starts its final home stand of the season by hosting Oral Roberts, currently the second-place team in the conference standings. At IUPUI last Saturday Oakland could not overcome a strong start by the Jags, falling 87-72. Vova Severovas led OU with 25 points, the fifth time this season he has led OU in scoring. Oakland enters the game in sixth in the Mid-Con standings, one and a half games behind Southern Utah for fifth. Quick Shots The game with Oral Roberts will make it back-to-back games against the Nos. 1 & 2 teams in the Mid-Con standings for Oakland ... next up for OU will be UMKC, currently No. 3 in the conference race to give the Golden Grizzlies consecutive games vs. the top-three teams in the Mid-Con ... Oakland has won its last two games at home ... the current two-game home stand will mark the final home games of the season for OU ... it will be the earliest finish to a home season since 2001-02 when OU finished on Feb. 9, also vs. UMKC ... a win against Oral Roberts will clinch a winning home record for the Golden Grizzlies ... it would also break a two-game losing streak at home to the Golden Eagles ... Oakland has not won three straight at home this season ... a win over Oral Roberts combined with a Southern Utah loss at Chicago State would move OU within a half game of the Thunderbirds for fifth ... Vova Severovas??? 25 points at IUPUI was just one short of his career-high that he set against the Jags in the first meeting between the two this season ... Oakland broke a two-game streak being out rebounded by grabbing eight more boards than IUPUI ... OU has been out rebounded in consecutive games just three times this season ... Oakland continues to shoot the ball well in Mid-Con play ... OU has hit 49 percent or better from the field in six of the last 10 outings ... the strong shooting is also extending to the free throw line ... the Golden Grizzlies are shooting over 70 percent from the line over the last seven games ... OU has now attempted 100 free throws over the last three outings ... that has enabled OU to out score its opponent in each of those games ... Oakland has now out scored the opposition from the free throw line 13 times ... OU had lost six in a row in contests decided by less than 10 points ... OU???s two three-pointers at IUPUI was a season-low ... Oakland has been out scored by a total of 54 points over the last three games from the three-point line ... the Golden Grizzles have still won two of those three ... Calvin Wooten leads the Mid-Con in three-pointers per game with a 3.64 mark ... he is the only player on the team to have a trey in every game he has played ... Oakland has scored less than 30 points in the first half in four of the last five ... OU has lost three of those games ... the Golden Grizzlies are 8-5 when scoring 70 or more ... Oakland has four players averaging in double figures in Mid-Con games, Shawn Hopes, Vova Severovas, Rick Billings and Calvin Wooten ... Oakland is lighting it up in Mid-Con play ... the team is shooting .479 in conference games (third in the league), 27 points above its season average ... Oakland has had the same starting five for the last 10 games ... that is the longest streak of the season for a starting five ... all five starters in that group did not play a minute for Oakland last season ... every player but three has at least one start for Oakland this season ... Calvin Wooten is second in the Mid-Con in 20-point games with 12 ... there have been only seven games this season in which Wooten has not led the team in scoring ... Wooten leads the team with 21 games in double figures ... Vova Severovas is second on the team with 12 games in double figures has reached double figures in 12 of his 16 games .... in addition to Wooten, Derick Nelson, Erik Kangas, Vova Severovas and Shawn Hopes also have 20-point games to their credit ... OU has had a 20-point scorer 14 times this season ... the total of five 20-point scorers this season surpasses the three for all of last year ... 14 of Oakland???s games have been decided by 11 or more points ... the Golden Grizzlies are 6-8 in those games ... four times the games have been decided by 20 or more, with OU going 2-2 in those contests ... Oakland is the only team in the Mid-Con with no seniors on its roster ... Oakland head coach Greg Kampe recorded his 350th career win with the victory over St. Peter???s ... he is one of 40 active Division I coaches with that many wins ... OU is among the top three teams in the Mid-Con in four categories this week ... after having a pair of 1,000-point scorers on the squad last season, Oakland???s leading scorer at the start of the season was Brandon Cassise???s 267 career points ... Calvin Wooten now tops the squad with his 672 career points ... this is Oakland???s eighth season as a Division I program ... head coach Greg Kampe is in his 22nd season as a head coach, all at Oakland ... there are only seven other coaches at the DI level that have had a longer tenure with their current school ... only four of those have been with their school for their entire careers. A Look at Oral Roberts For a second straight game Oakland will be taking on one of the hottest teams in the league in Oral Roberts. The preseason picks to win the league and the defending regular season champions, the Golden Eagles have rebounded from a four-game losing streak in December to win nine of their last 11, including four straight. Despite the loss of second-leading scorer Ken Tutt, ORU has rolled to a 9-2 Mid-Con record and stands in second-place heading into the game with OU. Last season???s Mid-Con Player of the Year Caleb Green is again leading the way for ORU, pacing the team in scoring and rebounding with his 20.6 and 8.7 averages. The current Player of the Week in the conference, he had a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds in ORU???s last outing, a 69-58 win at home over Chicago State. On the road this season the Golden Eagles are 4-6 overall, 3-2 in Mid-Con games. For a complete set of game notes please click here.