ROCHESTER, Mich. – On Thursday, December 1, Oakland University Men's Basketball will open #HLMBB play at Cleveland State in the Wolstein Center on ESPN+ and on the Audacy App.
Keaton Hervey averaged 13.3 points in each of the Golden Grizzlies' (2-6, 0-0 Horizon League) three games at the Nassau Championship last weekend with an average of 6.0 boards per contest, tied with
Trey Townsend for a team-high. Senior
Jalen Moore put up 15 total assists through the three-day event, an average of five per game.
Townsend is still the team's leading scorer with 16.8 per contest with the second-best field goal percentage in the Horizon League at 56.4% (57-101) ahead of Hervey, who is in sixth in the league, at 53.3% (40-75) with an average of 14.1 points per contest. The grad transfer Hervey also leads the squad with 7.5 rebounds per game, fourth in the conference.
Moore is second in the league in assists per game at 6.3, amassing a total of 44 on the year through the first eight games which put the Cloverdale, Indiana native 10th in NCAA Division I as of November 27. You can also find Moore's name on the minutes per game category nationally with 35.5/game, 27th in Division I.
As a team, OU shoots some of the most three-pointers per game with a total of 218 and an average of 27.3 as the squad collectively 34.9% (76-218) with
Osei Price moving to the top spot on the team at 46.7% (7-15) while
Blake Lampman has fired off the 19th-most attempts in the NCAA with 55.
Townsend was named to the Lou Henson Award Watchlist on November 22 as one of four #HLMBB student-athletes listed.
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 664-510 (56.8%) career record.
Michigan State was recently ranked No. 12 in the latest AP Top 25 poll as the only ranked non-conference opponent the Golden Grizzlies will potentially see. Toledo came close with a receiving vote ranking ahead of the two team's matchup on November 16.
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
CLEVELAND STATE
The 4-3 Vikings throttled Western Michigan 71-49 in Kalamazoo on Saturday as the home green and black will enter Thursday's game with five days of rest, riding a four-game winning streak. CSU fired off their hot shooting after dropping their season opener to NCAA Division II opponent Notre Dame College (Ohio) and the team's first road match at Cincinnati.
CSU has the sixth-best scoring margin in the conference entering the first week of play, averaging 67.0 points per game while coughing up 64.1 for a positive slim margin of 2.9 to Oakland's -2.8.
Tristan Enaruna is the team's leading scorer at 13.3 points per game for a field goal percentage of 45.9% as Deshon Parker (9.7/per game), Tae Williams (9.1/per game), and Deante Johnson (8.3/per game) all trail behind. Enaruna can also be seen atop the rebounding category for the Vikings at 7.4 per contest.
Daniyal Robinson is in his first season as a head coach in his career as the Vikings are coming off a #HLMBB Co-Regular Season Championship in 2022 and a #HLMBB Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021 to the credit of former Head Coach Dennis Gates who is now at Missouri in the SEC.
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.
