Photo courtesy of The Oakland Post Archives

On Thursday, April 18, Jaylen Jones, Jayson Woodrich and Deng Majak officially signed on to join the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies men’s basketball team.

With diverse playing styles among all three players, let’s delve into a breakdown of what each will bring to the Golden Grizzlies ahead of next season.

Jayson Woodrich | F | 8.0 PTS, 2.9 REB, 0.8 AST

After spending four years with the Cleveland State Vikings, Woodrich has become a foe turned friend of the Golden Grizzlies.

Last season, Woodrich was deadly from deep. The 6-foot-7 forward cashed in on 35.7 percent of his attempts and made the 12th most 3-pointers in the Horizon League.

Given Woodrich’s impressive 3-point shooting, he could potentially fill the role that Jack Gohlke excelled in last season, likely exclusively taking nearly all of his shot attempts from beyond the arc.

Notably, in all three games against the Golden Grizzlies this past season, Woodrich shot a total of 26 shots. Just four of those 26 shots came from inside the 3-point line.

Looking at his previous season as a whole, Woodrich attempted 6.8 shots per game, with 5.1 of those shots coming from downtown, meaning an astonishing 75 percent of Woodrich’s shots came from three.

Jaylen Jones | G | 9.2 PTS, 3.8 REB, 2.7 AST

Following his impressive freshman season as a Tennessee State Tiger, Jaylen Jones brings something to the table OU needed last season—a true point guard.

Standing at 6-foot-1, Jones led the Tigers in assists last season and scored his points in a variety of ways. With most of his points coming from in front of the rim, Jones still shot 36.5 percent from deep during his freshman campaign.

Jones isn’t a slouch on defense, either. Despite coming off the bench for a majority of the games he played in his freshman season, Jones still averaged 0.9 steals.

In addition to what Jones brings to the Golden Grizzlies, it’s important to note that Jones is the brother of OU’s own Isaiah Jones.

Considering that brothers Jack and Chang Hoth will also be on the team for the Golden Grizzlies this upcoming season, OU will have two sets of brothers on the same roster next season. 

Deng Majak | C | 13.4 PTS, 9.0 REB, 1.5 AST

Rounding out the list of additions is Deng Majak, a 6-foot-11 center from Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida.

During his sophomore season for the Pioneers, Majak started all but one game and unsurprisingly scored most of his points in the interior. Whether it was through bullying his opponents with his size or a crafty spin move, Majak consistently got buckets at the rim.

Additionally, Majak was one of the best rebounders in the NJCAA last season. Among the hundreds of Division I NJCAA basketball players, Majak ranked 33rd in rebounds per game.

While Majak excels in interior scoring and rebound, his 3-point shooting isn’t as strong — he made just 26.7 percent of his attempts last season. However, this area has potential for growth during his time at OU.

After these three additions, the Golden Grizzlies’ roster will now have 12 players for next season. Since NCAA rules allow teams to have up to 15 players on a roster, OU can potentially bring in three more players ahead of the 2024-25 season.