OU Set to Host Oklahoma State, Seventh Power Five Team to Visit in the O'rena's History

ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oakland University Men's Basketball will host a power five opponent in the Athletics Center O'rena for the first time since 2016 as Oklahoma State comes to Rochester facing a whiteout from the OU fan faithful.

Decided on Friday, the last two meetings between Oakland and BGSU have been decided by a combined six points as the Golden Grizzlies fell 87-82 with Trey Townsend posting 23 points in the loss while Jalen Moore dropped 18 in his season debut. Keaton Hervey was one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds, a team-high mark.

Once again, the starting five of Townsend, Moore, Hervey, Blake Lampman, and Rocket Watts handled 87% of the team's offense as Will Shepherd, Osei Price, and Chris Conway saw action off the bench. OU shot better than BGSU in the box score from the field at 50% (29-58) to the Falcons' 44.6% (29-65) while capitalizing off the visitor's turnovers with 23 points as Moore, Hervey, and Price had a team-high two steals apiece.

In the short series versus the Cowboys in the past three years, the Golden Grizzlies won 56-55 in Stillwater on November 12, 2021 as Moore led the team in scoring with 16 points and a team-high six assists while Jamal Cain handled a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. That fateful November day saw OU shoot 30% (6-20) from range to Oklahoma State's 17.6% (3-17).

This will be the first time since 2016 that a power five team will come into the O'rena as the Georgia Bulldogs were just the latest in what has been a doomed endeavor for power programs to play on The BlackTop as OU defeated the visiting red and white that day 86-79. Michigan, Tennessee, Missouri, and Texas A&M have all seen similar fates in the arena's history.

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

OKLAHOMA STATE
Southern Illinois drained a three-pointer with 22 seconds left on the clock to upset the Cowboys and move OK State's record to 1-1 for the second year in a row as Oakland, previously mentioned, beat the black and orange in Stillwater last year in a similar fashion. Oklahoma State responded in 2021 with a 72-59 win the following game against Prairie View A&M.

As it turns out, both OK State and Oakland will be heading to the same facility in Nassau, Bahamas in the first of two tournaments with the Baha Mar Hoops against UCF on November 18. OU will travel on November 25 in the 2022 Nassau Championship.

Bryce Thompson leads the incoming Cowboys in points per game at 16 through the first two contests with Avery Anderson III just behind with 10.5, respectively. Moussa Cissa has bagged 10 boards a game as the 7'1" Memphis transfer spearheads the second-chance opportunities for Oklahoma State.

ONE MORE TO GLORY
Greg Kampe needs approximately one more win heading into the weekend to tie college basketball's all-time great John Wooden's 664 wins. Kampe has also surpassed 400-plus wins as a Division I Head Coach with the win over Defiance.

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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