ROCHESTER, Mich. - Oakland University Men's Basketball will continue with Horizon League play as they head on the road to take on Northern Kentucky on Friday, January 6th at 7:00 pm at Truist Arena in Highland Heights, Kentucky. 

The Golden Grizzlies currently stand on a two game win streak after they registered another win against Green Bay (81-65) to bring their record to 4-11 for the 2022-23 season, and 2-2 in the league. Jalen Moore delivered at the O'rena as he put up a season high 25-points going 13-15 on free throws combined with his five assists. Rocket Watts earned his spot on the leaderboard as he put up the second highest score tally with 16 points in his 26 minutes on the blacktop. Additionally, Chris Conway unveiled another season high 14 points with his seven successful field goals of the evening. 

Townsend remains the top scoring leader for the Golden Grizzlies with a 16.6 point average, and beside him is senior Jalen Moore with 14.1 points, as well as Keaton Hervey with 13.5. Hervey takes the spot for rebound leader for the Golden Grizzlies averaging leads the team in 7.7 per game, and Townsend with the second-highest rebound average of 7.1. 

Townsend currently ranks sixth in the Horizon League in scoring with the third-best field goal percentage mark of 52.6% (103-196). Hervey ranks fourth in the conference in rebounding alongside Townsend who ranks sixth. 

Moore leads the conference in assists with a total of 73 on the year. The recent college graduate rises up in the NCAA Division I rankings as he ranks 10th in assists per game (6.1), and ties for 35th for his 73 total assists on the season alongside Umoja Gibson (DePaul) and Cameron Parker (Portland State).

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 665-516 (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

NORTHERN KENTUCKY

Marques Warrick is the team highest scoring player averaging 19.4 points per game, the second highest in the Horizon League, respectively.  Chris Brandon leads the team in rebounds with an average of 9.6 per game. 

Northern Kentucky holds the second-best turnover margin of 4.13, along leading the league in steals with 141 total for the 2022-23 season.

The Norse have played the Golden Grizzlies a total of 19 times since their first matchup in 1984 all the way up to their most recent loss last season in the O'rena. 

The Horizon League conference revealed the pre-season poll ranking Northern Kentucky first tied with Purdue Fort Wayne 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.