Greg Kampe’s basketball teams have rarely been known for their defensive prowess. He even jokes about it.

The Golden Grizzlies men’s surprising run to contention in the Horizon League in January, however, has been driven by Dante Williams’ stifling defensive efforts against the league’s top scorers.

For example, the 6’6″ senior forward held Cleveland State’s Trey Lewis to 5 points in two games. For the season, Lewis is averaging 16.9 points per game for the Vikings, who are 7-2 in the league.

In the Jan. 22 victory over visiting Milwaukee, Williams held the Panthers’ leading scorer Matt Tiby to one point in the second half after Tiby netted 12 in the first half.

Coach Kampe described Williams’ defensive efforts as an advantage that not many other teams in this league can claim. 

“Defense has always been a strength of mine because I love it,” Williams said. “I love the challenge of guarding the other team’s best player. I love that I can help my team without the ball being in my hands.”

Williams has been entrusted to guard the opponent’s leading scorer in every league game so far, and Oakland has won six of the eight matchups.

Even in the Jan. 10 loss on the road at Detroit Mercy, Williams held Juwan Howard Jr. to 11 points — seven less than his average per game.

“I believe defense is just being willing to play hard and give your best effort,” Williams explained. 

“I’m not doing anything special out there. I’m just playing my butt off.  When you play hard and give it your all, you get rewarded. My reward is helping my team get W’s.”

Kampe has long relied on a high-powered offense in his 31 years as Oakland’s head coach. His teams have reached the NCAA Tournament three times with that offensive philosophy.

But Kampe said during a press conference after the Milwaukee game that he had to switch gears this season. A close friend told Kampe after a November preseason game against Ferris State that the Golden Grizzlies were “the worst team he’d ever seen on defense.”

And Oakland lost 12 of its 17 games in November and December.

Since then, the Golden Grizzlies have won seven of nine, including three victories over the teams that were ranked ahead of them in the pre-season Horizon coaches’ poll.

“The thing that changed the most from the beginning to now is that everybody stopped going off on their own and doing their own things,” explained Williams.

“Now everybody follows the team concepts that our coaches try to reinforce to us and it works.”