OU Starts Jam-Packed Weekend Off with BGSU

ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oakland University Men's Basketball will host Bowling Green State on Friday, November 11 amid a three-game homestand at 7:00 pm inside the Athletics Center O'rena.

Oakland won its first season opener for the first time since the 2019-20 season (a win over Goshen College at the O'rena) with a school record margin of victory of 65 points over Defiance College 92-27 last Monday. Graduate transfer Keaton Hervey reached a career-high 19 points in the win, tying with Trey Townsend and Chuol Deng as the team's leading rebounder with six a piece. Hervey finished the night with 100% shooting in the box score on Monday with 7-7 from the field, 3-3 from deep, and 2-2 from the charity stripe.

Around 74% of the scoring offense went through the starting five of Hervey, Townsend, Rocket Watts, Blake Lampman, and Osei Price as the group put 68 up on the board. Watts tallied 15 points and a team-high four assists in the win with Lampman just behind going 4-8 from the field for 13 points.

After a week of play, Oakland has the best scoring defense in the nation (naturally) with the eighth-best scoring margin behind Bryant, Eastern Kentucky, Wofford, and others.

Moore was the lone Golden Grizzly named to the Preseason #HLMBB All-League Team honor with OU predicted fourth with two first-place votes in the preseason poll as Purdue Fort Wayne and Northern Kentucky tied for the top honor. The Horizon League and ESPN released the annual wildcard selections for national telecasts with Oakland on four of the five potential selected dates, denoted on the team's schedule page and the game notes.

Head Coach Greg Kampe enters his 39th season at the helm for Oakland University as the second-longest tenured coach in NCAA Division I basketball behind Jim Boeheim from Syracuse, who is in his 42nd season. Kampe has posted a 664-506 (56.8%) career record.

The preseason KenPom rankings revealed Oakland as the fifth-best in the Horizon League at 225th overall out of the competing 363 teams.

With the release of the AP Top 25 Poll, Oakland will not play a ranked opponent in non-conference play but will do battle with the No. 31 (Michigan State), No. 54 (Syracuse), No. 86 (Toledo), and No. 87 (Boise State) teams in the preseason KenPom rankings, respectively.

The early signing period has come for OU as Aundre Polk will join the team on The Blacktop in the fall of 2023. Polk is a former MAC All-Freshman Team member at Central Michigan.

SCOUTING REPORT

BOWLING GREEN
The Falcons had three score in double figures with its razor-thin win over Air Force on opening night as Leon Ayers III tallied 16 with Samari Curtis and Rashaun Agee posting 14 and 13, respectively. Ayers and Agee tied the team's high in rebounds with seven, heading into the weekend as the squad's leaders in the short season.

Oakland is the first of two Horizon League team's the Falcons will see in its first three games, doing battle with Wright State this following Tuesday, November 15 in Dayton before taking part in the three-game, multiteam event of the Gotham Classic with St. Bonaventure, Notre Dame, and Southern Indiana.

DA-DA-DA DA-DA-DA
Moore and Hervey connected from a steal for the off-the-glass slam by the grad transfer from Missouri State for the team's first #SCTop10 of the 2022-23 season, coming in at No. 10 in the daily ESPN show on October 20.

NEW FACES
The Golden Grizzlies welcome in four transfers, two from the power five-level, Rocket Watts (Mississippi State), Lorne Bowman (Wisconsin), Keaton Hervey (Missouri State), and Chuol Deng (Hill College). Three freshmen join the new class Cooper Craggs, Dominic Capriotti, and Evan Solomon.

NEW HEAT IN MIAMI
Oakland's own Jamal Cain has earned a contract with the Miami Heat for the upcoming season wearing No. 8. Cain is just the latest active Golden Grizzly in the NBA with Kendrick Nunn, a regular part of the Los Angeles Lakers rotation.

GET YOUR TICKETS
Season tickets can be purchased through the Athletics Ticket Office by calling (248) 370-4000 or emailing outickets@oakland.edu. Single-game tickets and mini-plans are also available for the 2022-23 basketball season.

NEW HOME FOR OAKLAND BASKETBALL
Oakland recently announced a partnership with Audacy that made 97.1 The Ticket HD3 and The Bet 1270AM (WXYT-AM) the official radio providers for the department. With this new partnership, 97.1 The Ticket HD3 and The Bet 1270AM (WXTY-AM) will provide coverage for all Oakland men's basketball games and the Greg Kampe Radio Show.

BACK FOR ANOTHER RUN
Kampe enters his 39th season at the helm of the Oakland men's basketball program. He is the second-longest tenured active coach in Division I, only behind Jim Boeheim (Syracuse, 45 seasons). Kampe's 664 career wins rank 12th among active Division I coaches.

PUTTING OAKLAND ON THE MAP
Kampe joined Oakland in 1984 after six seasons as an assistant coach at Toledo (1978-1984). Formerly known as the Pioneers, OU had only six winning seasons in 16 years of competition before his arrival.

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