The Oakland men’s basketball team lost to the nationally top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, Nov. 16, at Allen Fieldhouse with a final score of 78-57.
The loss against the Jayhawks ends what has been a challenging stretch of road games for the Golden Grizzlies, who previously lost to the Boise State Broncos and the Illinois Fighting Illinis.
“We handled this about as well as you could expect. So I’m pleased,” head coach Greg Kampe said in an interview with Neal Ruhl on the Golden Grizzlies men’s basketball X account.
Allen Mukeba led the Golden Grizzlies in scoring, tallying 19 points and a team-high two steals while shooting 9-15 from the field. Buru Naivalurua was another Golden Grizzly who made his presence known, scoring 12 points and coming down with a team-best nine rebounds.
On the other side of the court, AJ Storr scored the most points for Kansas, registering an efficient 16 points to go along with three assists and two rebounds. Hunter Dickinson also came up big for the Jayhawks, nearly notching a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
In the game’s first five minutes, Oakland hung around with the Jayhawks with a tough bucket from Navalairua and a three-pointer from DQ Cole. However, a made free throw from KJ Adams Jr. jumpstarted a 9-0 Kansas run, giving the Jayhawks the early lead.
As the first progressed, Mukeba kept the game competitive with a steal that led to a layup for Mukeba. Cooper Craggs snagged an offensive rebound on the next Oakland possession before dishing the ball out to Mukeba for another bucket.
Despite the persistent play from the Golden Grizzlies, the Jayhawks started to build on their lead with consistent offense while staggering Oakland on defense, disallowing the Golden Grizzlies to find steady chances to score the ball.
With the half approaching, Rylan Griffen hit a buzzer-beater three following a Kansas inbound pass, ballooning the Jayhawk lead to 46-24 heading into the break, the largest Kansas lead to this point in the game.
At the start of the second, the Golden Grizzlies once again kept pace with the Jayhawks for a long stretch of play as Kansas struggled to widen the margin. Still, the Jayhawks eventually found some stable offense and grew their lead regardless, going on a 13-4 run.
Leading the Golden Grizzlies by 30 with less than five minutes to go, Oakland ended the game on an impressive defensive note, allowing just one Jayhawk bucket in the final five minutes of play.
Oakland’s good defense led to even better offense during this stretch, as the Golden Grizzlies made all but two of their attempts from the field, highlighted by a long three from Malcolm Christie and a trio of layups from Deng Majak, Jaylen Jones and Mukeba.
Notably, the Golden Grizzlies outsourced the Jayhawks 33-32 in the second half. However, after letting the first get away from them, Kansas was the clear winner of this matchup, marking their first win over the Golden Grizzlies since the 2017-18 season.
“A lot of good came out of tonight,” Kampe said in an interview with Neal Ruhl on the Golden Grizzlies men’s basketball X account. “The fact that we got the ball and scored in the post, and we played inside out in the second half.”
Next, the Golden Grizzlies will host the Eastern Michigan Eagles at the OU Credit Union O’Rena on Thursday, Nov. 21. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the game will mark Oakland’s first home game in two weeks and their first game against a mid-major program this season.
