Fall sports are nearly over, but men’s and women’s basketball at Oakland University are just now gearing up. Greg Kampe and the men’s team, as well as Jeff Tungate and the women’s team were both in action during the week of Nov. 12-18.
Here is a full breakdown of how both teams fared, along with an update on the volleyball team’s appearance in the Horizon League Tournament.
Volleyball
The volleyball team, which appeared to be the final Oakland fall sports team still in contention for a conference title, had its season come to an end on Friday, Nov. 17, in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament.
Oakland had secured the No. 5 seed after a solid regular season showing, but the Golden Grizzlies were thoroughly dominated by the Northern Kentucky Norse, having their season come to a close.
The first set ended thrillingly, but the Norse got the better of the Golden Grizzlies by a score of 28-26. Things unraveled for Oakland going forward, as the Golden Grizzlies lost each of the next two sets by a larger margin than its preceding set.
Northern Kentucky disposed of Oakland in straight sets, 28-26, 25-21, 25-17, to advance to the second round of the league tournament.
Oakland’s season is now over. It ends the year with a 17-14 overall record and an 11-7 mark in league play.
Women’s basketball
After opening the 2023-24 season 1-1 — a double-overtime win over Akron and a loss to Michigan State — the women’s basketball team split its slate of games again this week.
The team opened the week on Tuesday night in Ann Arbor as they took on Michigan at the Crisler Center. However, it didn’t go very well for the Golden Grizzlies.
Oakland was outscored 25-6 in the first quarter, and that was a hole so big the Golden Grizzlies couldn’t crawl their way out.
Kianni Westbook and Brooke Quarles-Daniels led the way for Oakland in scoring with 10 points each, but no other Golden Grizzly had more than five points on the night.
Meanwhile, Michigan had eight different scorers finish with more than five points. Although the Wolverines left the door open with some subpar shooting, Oakland couldn’t take advantage after falling behind by 19 points in the first 10 minutes.
The tough defeat was followed up with a 110-51 drubbing of Cleary University at the OU Credit Union O’rena on Friday night. Friday’s win over Cleary was nearly the complete reverse of what happened in Ann Arbor just three days prior.
Eight Golden Grizzlies finished in double-figures, and the team connected on 15 3-point attempts. It was a complete, all-around effort from Oakland as it picked up its second victory of the season.
Oakland will take the court next on Saturday, Nov. 25, at 5:30 p.m. at the OU Credit Union O’rena against Madonna University.
Men’s basketball
Greg Kampe began his 40th season as Oakland’s men’s basketball coach with back-to-back road games against Big Ten foes. The Golden Grizzlies played both Ohio State and Illinois close, but they came up just short in both contests.
During the third week of November, though, Oakland secured its first win of the season with an 81-62 win over Bowling Green at the OU Credit Union O’rena.
It was the home opener of the 2023-24 season, so the Golden Grizzly faithful honored Kampe as he continues to be the longest-tenured head coach in Division I basketball.
As far as the game goes, Trey Townsend led the way for Oakland with 20 points on 8-16 shooting. Jack Gohlke added 14, and DQ Cole scored 12 of his own to help OU to the win. Rocket Watts also had 10 points.
Following the Cayman Islands Classic, Oakland will hit the road again to take on Xavier on Monday, Nov. 27 at 6:30 p.m. The game will be aired on FS1.
