(WWJ) — Trey Townsend grew up in Oxford, about an hour and 15 minutes from both the Breslin Center in East Lansing and the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.
But Townsend didn’t grow up dreaming of being a Spartan or a Wolverine. He wanted to be a Golden Grizzly — just like both of his parents, Skip and Nicole.
As WWJ’s Zach Clark learned on a new Daily J podcast, Townsend fulfilled that dream of playing for head coach Greg Kampe — just like his dad — and then some.
Townsend is finishing up his senior year at Oakland in style: taking the Golden Grizzlies back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 and winning Horizon League Player of the Year honors in the process.
“I grew up always wanting to come here. It was never, ‘oh, I want to go to Michigan or Michigan State.’ This was my big school, my powerhouse school,” Townsend said.
And to finally play at OU has been “such a special thing.”
Townsend has the chance to make it even more special as the 14-seed Golden Grizzlies take on 3-seed Kentucky Thursday night in Pittsburgh.
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