No. 3 seed Kentucky stunned by No. 14 seed Oakland in men’s NCAA tournament
Oakland’s Trey Townsend, No. 4, scored 17 points in Thursday’s win against Kentucky on Thursday. Joe Sargent/Getty Images CNN —
Another high seed has fallen in this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Kentucky, the No. 3 seed in the South Region, was stunned by No. 14 seed Oakland University 80-76 in the first round on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Golden Grizzlies were led by senior guard Jack Gohlke, who finished with 32 points. Gohlke’s 10 three-pointers are tied for the second most in an NCAA tournament game. The record was set by Jeff Fryer of Loyola Marymount in 1990 with 11.
Oakland advances to the second round for the first time in the history of the southeastern Michigan school.
Golden Grizzlies head coach Greg Kampe, who is in his 40th year coaching the program, nodded his head towards Gohlke when asked how they achieved this unlikely win.
“This guy right here. He had no conscience,” Kampe told the CBS Sports broadcast. “We talked all week: ‘Just go shoot it, baby. You’re the best.’ And he’s the best, and he proved it to the world tonight.
“I said this is what we wanted, this stage. We wanted Kentucky because they’re the best – they’re the best. So, we wanted that, and we wanted this stage and our kids came through.”
Kampe added the team will enjoy “45 minutes of this” and then get ready for its next game.
“We have a chance of a lifetime,” Kampe said. “This isn’t the end of it. … We’ve got more, and the only way we are going to win on Saturday is to stay focused and take it one at a time.”
Gohlke was asked after the game his feelings on having a game any player would “dream of.”
“It’s just something I’ve worked so hard for my whole career, and coach just instills the confidence in me – gives me the freedom to go out there and play and influence the game in a positive way,” Gohlke said. “I’m just having fun. We have tremendous crowd, tremendous stage. … It’s a dream. This is why players work so hard to get to this stage.”
The Wildcats fell to 1-4 in the program’s last five NCAA tournament games. This is the second time in three years that the John Calipari-coached team has crashed out in the first round to a double-digit seed.
“We are not a Cinderella,” Gohlke bluntly said before walking to the locker room with his coach.
Oakland will face the winner of 6-seed Texas Tech and 11-seed North Carolina State on Saturday.