The Oakland Golden Grizzlies are the men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team that represent

Oakland University Oakland University is a public research university in Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Michigan. Founded in 1957 through a donation of Matilda Dodge Wilson, it was initially known as Michigan State University-Oakland, operating under the Mi ...

Auburn Hills, Michigan Auburn Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 21,412 at the 2010 census. Before incorporating as a city in 1983, the area was part of the now-defunct Pontiac Township. It is home to Oakland University ...

, United States. The school's team competes in the

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midw ...

and plays their home games at the

Athletics Center O'rena Athletics Center O'rena is a 4,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is home to the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball teams. The court has a distinctive "blacktop" colo ...

. The Golden Grizzlies are coached by

Greg Kampe Greg Charles Kampe (born December 9, 1955) is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Oakland University. He guided the Golden Grizzlies to their first NCAA Division I tournament and tournament win in ...

. Kampe is the second longest-tenured Division I head coach, behind

Jim Boeheim James Arthur Boeheim Jr. ( ; born November 17, 1944) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Syracuse Orange men's team of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Boeheim has guided the Orange to ten Big East Conference ...

. Oakland last played in the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Through December 29, 2020, Oakland has made a three-point field goal in 1,014 consecutive games, the fifth-longest active NCAA Division I streak. They last finished a game without a three-pointer on January 30, 1988.

History

The Oakland men's basketball program began competing in the 1967 season, 10 years after the university opened. Originally nicknamed the Pioneers, they won their first NCAA game 109–106 in overtime against

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...

. The Pioneers were without a conference until 1974 when they joined the

Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) is a competitive List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level. ...

(GLIAC). The first year as members of the GLIAC, Oakland hired

, who is still the head coach at the university. Kampe has the fifth-longest tenure of all active Division I coaches. Oakland won two regular season GLIAC championships, in 1995–96 and 1996–97, their final two seasons in the league. In a 1993 game against

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, Oakland scored 91 points in the first half, on their way to a 189–107 victory. That game set school records for most points in a half (98) and largest margin of victory (82). The next three seasons, OU scored more than 100 points 30 times, winning 29 of those games. Oakland played at the Division II level until 1997 when they changed their nickname to the Golden Grizzlies and began the transition to Division I. OU opened the

in 1998 against

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. When the O'rena was being built, home basketball games were played in the Sports Dome, an inflatable "bubble" used for practice by Oakland's athletic teams during the winter. The original basketball stadium was in the Hollie L. Lepley Sports Center. The Golden Grizzlies completed the transition to Division I in 1999 and joined the

Mid-Continent Conference The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the W ...

(now known as The Summit League). The Golden Grizzlies joined the

starting in the 2013–14 season.

Postseason history

Oakland competed in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

since the inception of the basketball program in 1967 until they moved to

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

in 1997. The Golden Grizzlies reached the Division II postseason four times in their final four seasons at that level.

NCAA Division I Tournament results

The Golden Grizzlies have appeared in three Division I NCAA Tournaments. Their overall record is 1–3.

NCAA Division II Tournament results

The Golden Grizzlies have appeared in four Division II NCAA Tournaments. Their overall record is 3–5.

NIT results

The Golden Grizzlies have appeared in one

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

. Their overall record is 1–1.

Vegas 16 results

The Golden Grizzlies participated in the first and only

Vegas 16 The Vegas 16 tournament was a postseason men's college basketball tournament. The tournament was managed by Lexington, Kentucky-based sports marketing firm bd Global. The tournament featured eight teams not selected for the NCAA Men's Division I B ...

. Their record was 2–1.

CIT results

The Golden Grizzlies have appeared in Four

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament The CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) was an American men's college basketball postseason tournament founded by Collegeinsider.com. The tournament was oriented toward schools that did not get selected for the NCAA Division I men's ...

s (CIT). Their overall record is 4–4.

All-time win–loss record

''Through 2020–21 season''

Records

Media

OU men's basketball games are broadcast on

WDFN WDFN (1130 AM) is a radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts an all-news radio format under iHeartMedia's Black Information Network, targeting Detroit's African American community. Its studios are located in the D ...

(1130 AM). The play-by-play commentator is Neal Ruhl, with former Oakland and professional player, Dan Waterstradt. Oakland home games are simulcast on

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications ...

WMYD WMYD (channel 20) is an independent television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV (channel 7). Both stations share studios at Broadcast House on 10 Mile Road i ...

and WDFN.

Mario Impemba Mario Impemba (born ) is an American sportscaster, best known as the television play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Tigers from 2002 to 2018. Before working for the Tigers, he announced for the Los Angeles Angels on both television and rad ...

, also the play-by-play commentator for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

Fox Sports Detroit Bally Sports Detroit (BSD) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group that operates as a Bally Sports affiliate. It provides coverage of local sports teams in the state of Michigan, primarily focusing on those in Metro D ...

, broadcast Oakland games from 2006–2013.

Oakland players who played in the NBA

Keith Benson Keith Anderson Benson Jr. (born August 13, 1988) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Juventus Utena of the Lithuanian Basketball League. He played college basketball for Oakland University. A 6-foot-11 center, Benso ...

Jamal Cain Hasen Jamal Cain (born March 20, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA G League. He played college basket ...

Kay Felder Kahlil Ameer "Kay" Felder Jr. (born March 29, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Shanxi Loongs of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Felder, a point guard, declared for the 2016 NBA draft at the conclusion of his ...

* Rawle Marshall * Kendrick Nunn

Footnotes

: The official Oakland record book lists Reggie Hamilton in third place with 548 career assists from 2010–2012. That includes the assists he accumulated while at UMKC from 2007–2009, which is inconsistent with how the rest of the record book handles transfer player statistics. : The official Oakland record book lists Marshall's total at 199, but the addition of his individual season's statistics makes the total 198 (80 in 2002–03, 59 in 2003–04, 59 in 2004–05). : There is a discrepancy between sources for Brock's 2016–17 season block total. The official Oakland record book lists 72, while other sources list the total as 69. This is due to a difference in total blocks for the December 10, 2016, game against Robert Morris. Both school box scores list 7 blocks while ESPN and sports-reference.com list 5.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakland Golden Grizzlies Men's Basketball