Oakland’s Jack Gohlke wrote himself into NCAA Tournament folklore Thursday night.
With 10 3-pointers and 32 points in 14th-seeded Oakland’s upset of Kentucky, Gohlke’s name will be remembered alongside the likes of Northern Iowa’s Ali Farokhmanesh, Georgia State’s R.J. Hunter, MTSU’s Giddy Potts and the many others who have led their teams to memorable upsets.
Gohlke and the Golden Grizzlies shot the lights out to advance to the round of 32 for the first time in school history, knocking off the all-time winningest program in the process.
Gohlke came within one 3-pointer of the NCAA Tournament single-game record, set by Loyola Marymount’s Jeff Fryer against Michigan in 1990. And the transfer from Division II Hillsdale College did it on the 16-year anniversary of Steph Curry sinking eight treys in an upset of Gonzaga, no less.
As is often the case when an upset is brewing, every non-Kentucky fan inside Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena got more and more behind Oakland with each three-ball he sank, breathing more belief in the team as they didn’t back down from the Wildcats.
Social media was on fire Thursday night as Oakland stole the show and set the stage for a potential Cinderella run.
But don’t tell Gohlke that.
“Obviously we come in, we’re the underdog, by all measures. But as a player, you can’t think that way. You gotta go out there and you gotta think that you have the same talent level as them. I know they have draft picks and I know I’m not going to the NBA, but I know on any given night I can compete with those type of guys and our team can compete with those type of guys,” Gohlke said in a postgame press conference.
“That’s why I was so confident going into it and that’s why I say we’re not a Cinderella. Because when we play our ‘A-game,’ we can be the best team on the floor,” he said.
Speaking to his teammates in a slightly subdued locker room — at least in terms of what you’d expect to see of a team that just pulled off a massive upset — Gohlke doubled down on his assertion that the Golden Grizzlies aren’t a Cinderella.
“I said it in the postgame interview with coach — we’re not f***ing Cinderellas, man,” the Horizon League 6th Man of the Year said in a video posted to the March Madness X page.
That’s a bold statement.
Like it or not, that’s the moniker that will be applied to the Golden Grizzlies should they knock off 11-seed NC State Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16.
After all, Oakland would be just the third 14-seed to do so, joining Chattanooga (1997) and Cleveland State (1986).