ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oakland University Men's Basketball will make a long-awaited return back home to the Athletics Center O'rena to host Milwaukee in a Horizon League Conference matchup on December 29th at 7:00 pm on ESPN+ with the "Voice of the Golden Grizzlies" Neal Ruhl on the call on the Audacy App, along with Tony Paul. 

The Golden Grizzlies step back out onto the Blacktop for the first time since their successful Eastern Michigan rally on November 19th. Oakland is coming off a recent 67-54 loss against Michigan State at Breslin Center on Wednesday, December 21. After an energetic first half, the Golden Grizzlies trailed 29-24 at halftime but ultimately left East Lansing with a loss despite second-half efforts. Keaton Hervey secured a score-leading 16 points for the Golden Grizzlies, while Trey Townsend was close behind as he tallied 14 points on the court. Blake Lampman also chimed in with 11 points and continued his three-point streak across ten games.

With a solid 18-point scoring average across the slate, Townsend remains the top scoring leader for the Golden Grizzlies alongside top two teammates Hervey with a 13.6 average and Jalen Moore with 12.7 to round out the top three spots. Notably, Hervey leads the team in rebounds averaging 7.6 per game, with Townsend close beside him at 7.4. 

Townsend now stands fourth in the Horizon League in scoring with the third-best field goal percentage mark of 52.2% (96-184). Hervey ranks fourth in the conference in rebounding alongside Townsend who stands sixth. 

Moore still posts 5.9 assists per game, the most in the conference, in his ten games, with a total of 59 on the year. The recent college graduate rises up in the NCAA Division I rankings as he now ranks 14th in assists per game. 

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 664-516 (56.3%) career record.

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

MILWAUKEE
BJ Freeman is the team's leading scorer at 10.2 points per contest in front of Markeith Browning II with a close 10.1 points. Justin Thomas takes the top spot for rebounds with an average of 4.5 per game with Browning right beside him with 4.4 boards. Kentrell Pullian is up there with a notable 9.5 points per game and a tally of 4.1 rebounds on the glass. 

Milwaukee currently holds the second-best scoring margin in the Horizon League with 13.6 just behind Purdue Fort Wayne at 13.9.  The Panthers also post the third-best scoring team field goal percentage in the conference with 48.4% (339-701) just a hair behind the second-place ranked Wright State (49.6%), and Youngstown State (49.7%) on top. 

The Panthers have competed against the Golden Grizzlies a total of 20 times since their first matchup in 2005 coming to their most recent competition last season resulting in a 78-88 loss on the road in Milwaukee's home court. 

The Horizon League conference revealed the pre-season poll ranking Milwaukee 9th out of 11 teams in the league for the 2022-23 season.  


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.