“Keep shooting! Keep. Shooting.”
That’s what Oakland head coach Greg Kampe said to Jack Gohlke as the Golden Grizzlies took a three-point lead over Kentucky into the halftime break, he told CBS sideline reporter Evan Washburn on the way to the locker room.
After going 7-of-13 from distance in the first half, that task got significantly tougher with one or two Wildcats draped all over him wherever he went in the second half.
But Gohlke drained three more after halftime to finish with 32 points on 10-of-20 shooting from distance as 14-seed Oakland stunned 3-seed Kentucky 80-76. He finished one three-pointer shy of the NCAA Tournament single-game record.
Thursday’s shocker in Pittsburgh was the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since winning the play-in game over Alabama A&M as a 16-seed in 2005 and the school’s first-ever first-round tournament win.
Gohlke’s shooting was contagious, as Oakland went 15-for-31 on the night, including a DQ Cole triple in the corner with 38 seconds to go that restored a two-possession lead for OU.
Gohlke, a transfer from Division II Hillsdale College started Thursday’s game on the bench, but he never left the floor the rest of the way. Easy to see why he earned Horizon League 6th Man of the Year honors.
John Calipari’s team did all they could to contain Gohlke, doing a better job of limiting his looks in the second half, holding him to just seven more attempts.
Enter Horizon Player of the Year Trey Townsend, who helped pick up the slack by scoring 13 of his 17 points in the second half, including a free throw to ice the game in the final seconds.
The Golden Grizzlies will play Saturday against the winner of Texas Tech vs. NC State.