By TOM MURPHY JR.

Senior Reporter

Down by two points and only seconds remaining in the game, it’s safe to bet that the basketball is going to Oakland University’s senior guard Erik Kangas. After all, Kangas is currently the fourth ranked player in the nation when it comes to hitting 3-pointers.

“He’s a big shot guy,” said OU head coach Greg Kampe. “He’s made a lot of big shots. He’s the guy you go to in the clutch, somebody you believe in that’s going to make them. That’s probably the legacy that he’s going to leave here is that he’s a big shot guy, Mr. Clutch.”

Kangas has 88 3-pointers so far this season and is shooting .415 from beyond the arc. On Jan. 24, he became the OU career leader in three pointers with 301, breaking the old record of 292 held by Jason Rozycki (1998-02).

“It’s a really great honor to hold that record,” Kangas said. “When I came here, I can’t say I really ever thought a record like that was even possible for me to reach. I think that when I look back on my career, this is one thing I will be extremely proud of so I’m glad that I was able to accomplish it.”

In good company

His 88 3-pointers put him above some prolific names in the world of college basketball. In fact, ranked immediately behind Kangas is Davidson College’s Stephen Curry — projected as a NBA first-round draft pick this summer according to NBADraft.net — who has made 85 3-point shots.

“Being ranked ahead of Curry is also pretty cool because he is considered the best shooter in the country by a lot of people,” Kangas said. “So I guess you can say that puts me in pretty good company.”

Being that good, of course, can draw some attention.

“I always think it is really cool to see my name in the top five on espn.com for the top 3-point shooters,” Kangas said. “I think I set the standard my sophomore year when I was consistently on that list. Ever since, I’ve expected myself to perform at that level so I’m pleased with where I am at so far this season.”

The perks of Kangas’ success also benefit the coaching staff’s recruiting process.

“Well what I think it’s going to do is if you’re a high school kid that can shoot, we are going to show him what Erik Kangas did here,” Kampe said. “And, if you’re a smart guy — shooters like to shoot — you’re going to see that they’re going to have the ability to do that here.”

‘Mr. Clutch’

Kangas said that he thrives in pressure situations.

“I’ve always wanted to be the guy to take the last shot,” Kangas said. “It’s not that I don’t trust my teammates to make shots, because I do, but it would kill me inside if I didn’t take it. I want to be the guy to decide the game.”

Kangas got his wish on Jan. 2 this season against North Dakota State by hitting a game-winning three with seven seconds left, giving the Grizzlies a one-point victory.

At different points throughout his playing career, Kangas has felt the glory of being the hero while having to deal with the pain of injuries.

“Last year, he was injured and played through a season of injuries,” Kampe said. “His sophomore year, if you look at the stats, he made 109 that year which is more than he’s made this year. Now, we still got seven or eight games to go here so hopefully he’s going to pass that.”

Kangas said that he has been a shooter ever since he started playing the game.

“I don’t really know if people are born with the ability to shoot or not but I do know that I’ve always been a shooter,” Kangas said. “When I was bored when I was younger, I would go out and shoot. That’s what I did. It didn’t matter what the weather was like — I’d do it in the winter too.”

As a high school standout in DeWitt, Mich., Kangas became well known as a shooter. During the 2004-05 season Kangas’ junior year, he led his team to the state championship game setting a Michigan high school record with 17 3-pointers made during the final three games of competition.

His senior year, he shot 35 percent from behind the 3-point line while averaging 17.7 points per game and was named as a Mr. Basketball nominee as one of the top ranked high school players in the state.

Building a legacy

Kangas said that he chose OU over Eastern Michigan because after weighing all the issues, he decided that OU was the best fit for him. Kampe made sure to pitch OU’s offensive game surrounding the 3-point shot.

“I told Erik when he came here that he could shoot 200 three’s a year,” Kampe said. “I’m a coach that’s fairly offensive minded, a coach that believes in the 3-point shot and, in recruiting, he knew that and I think it’s one of the reasons he chose us.”

During his first season at OU, 2005-06, Kangas played sparingly. He said the transition from high school star to freshman reserve player was difficult.

“It was a big transition for me,” Kangas said. “You go from being ‘the man’ in high school and kind of getting to do what you want. Freshman year was a wake up call. I didn’t play a whole lot. These guys were bigger, stronger and faster than me. I had to get tougher.”

After the 2005-06 season, Kampe told Kangas that he would be the starting shooting guard going into the next season but it was up to him to keep the spot.

“I took that off-season really seriously,” Kangas said. “[Kampe] was giving me a great opportunity and I had to take it and go with it.”

Kangas started every game during his sophomore season. He broke the OU record for 3-pointers made in a single season with 109. He shot 43 percent from behind the 3-point line.

Still, disappointment came at the end of the season when OU lost to Oral Roberts in the Summit League championship game 71-67 — just missing a coveted spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“We were right there,” Kangas said. “We had a lead at halftime we felt good about ourselves. They made a couple clutch plays in the end. It hurt even more because it was to Oral Roberts, they beat us three times that year and that should never happen. To be that close and not get it was crushing.”

Kangas found himself as the team’s lone 3-point threat after the loss of Brandon Cassise last season. Yet, Kangas felt like he was ready for that role all along.

“I don’t think my role really changed at all,” Kangas said. “Brandon did a good job of being a team leader and knocking down shots coming off the bench and [he] probably took some pressure off of me in that way but I don’t think that it changed my role as a player.”

Kangas’ junior season began with him being sidelined with an injury. He missed four of the first five games. He worked his way back into the starting lineup and finished the season averaging 14.6 points per game.

“It’s all about toughness,” Kangas said. “It really doesn’t matter if you’re hurt or not, if you’re out there you have to get the job done. You can make excuses all you want but it’s not going to help you.”

Once again, disappointment was felt at the end of the season as OU was upset in the second round of the Summit League tournament by IUPUI.

Oh captain, my captain

Kampe said that after that season, he and the rest of the coaching staff felt there wasn’t enough leadership on the team so they decided to name captains for the next season, something that the Grizzlies haven’t done in a long time.

Senior center Dan Waterstradt, junior point guard Johnathon Jones, along with Kangas were named captains. Kampe said that Kangas really took the leadership role to heart.

Waterstradt

said he has seen Kangas evolve from a quiet player to a vocal leader.

“Over the summer we met once or twice a week, us three [captains] and a couple of the coaches and we went over what a great leader has,” Waterstradt said. “We spoke with guys like [Palace Sports and Entertainment president] Tom Wilson, we spoke with a bunch of different people that were in big time positions and he picked up on a lot of that.”

It was about that time when Kangas began to lead in a more vocal way.

“I think he understood that for us to be a great team he needs to help out with the vocal side of the leadership as well as doing what he does,” Waterstradt said.

Kangas and the rest of the Grizzlies came into this season motivated to win a championship. With all five starters returning plus a host of incoming talented freshman, the season began with a lot of promise.

So far, it has proven to be a season full of ups and downs. It began with the loss of Tim Williams, who was kicked off the team for violating team and department policy. Then, senior forward Derick Nelson was lost for the season with a foot injury and freshman forward Ilija Milutinovic also suffered a foot injury that has sidelined him for most of the season.

“Well I think you have to give a lot of credit to [Kangas], Waterstradt and Jones. They are the three captains of the team and I think they’ve rallied this team through a lot of adversity,” Kampe said. “We’ve lost three players that were going to play major roles on our team in Williams, Nelson and Ilija and that’s a lot of players to lose in one year. Our team has done a great job of overcoming that and you have to give those three kids credit. Kangas is a big part of that.”

Kangas realized that the team’s situation called for him to enhance his lead-by-example abilities by improving his skills to fill the voids left behind.

“I have never really been the biggest verbal leader so I did what I could and worked hard to step up my level of play,” Kangas said. “I’ve also focused a lot more on defense because that is another thing we lost when we knew Williams and Nelson wouldn’t be playing with us this year.”

This season started with nine road games. Kangas and the rest of the Grizzlies squad forged through the early roadblocks and ended the non-conference season with a winning record. In conference play, the Grizzlies are 6-5 and in third place in the Summit League.

“It’s tough,” said Kangas about the roller coaster season that the Grizzlies are having. “You win two and you’re way up here and then you lose two and you’re way down here. You feel like your season’s over. But the main thing that I try to do is stay consistent, approach every game the same, don’t change your mindset.”

No matter how tough the road may become for OU in the remaining games this season, Kampe believes that he can rely on Kangas to always do his job when needed the most.

“That’s just part of being in the role that [Kangas] is in,” Kampe said. “Is he going to be taking the big shots for us? Absolutely.”