March Madness is golden, and right now, it belongs to the Golden Grizzlies of Oakland University.
The largest upset of the tournament thus far came at the hands of No. 3 Kentucky, who lost to No. 14 Oakland, 80-76.
The Golden Grizzlies led by seven with eight minutes to go, their largest lead of the night, but the Wildcats were quickly able to cut it to two. After a foul on a three-pointer, the red-hot Jack Gohlke (more on him soon) knocked down two of three from the stripe, putting Oakland up six with less than three-and-a-half minutes left.
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Jack Gohlke of the Oakland Golden Grizzlies reacts after scoring a 3-pointer against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at PPG Paints Arena March 21, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
With less than 90 seconds to go, Kentucky had a chance to take the lead, but they turned it over, and DQ Cole hit two free throws after getting fouled, bringing Oakland back up four.
Rob Dillingham made a wild three for the Wildcats, making it a one-point game, but Cole answered with just as crazy of a corner three himself to get the Grizzlies up 78-74 with 37 seconds left.
Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard missed a three, continuing his cold night, and Oakland’s Trey Townsend made one of his two free throws to go up five. Kentucky made a layup to make it a three-point deficit with 3.9 ticks to go, but Townsend again went 1-for-2 from the line after a necessary foul, all but icing the game.
The name of the game was three-point shooting – Oakland went 15-for-31 while Kentucky was just 9-for-27. Ironically, Oakland was pitiful from the free-throw line, missing six of their first nine (they did hit 10 of their final 14, while Kentucky went 15-for-20 from the stripe.
Jack Gohlke of the Oakland Golden Grizzlies reacts after scoring a 3-pointer against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at PPG Paints Arena March 21, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
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But a bulk of Oakland’s three-point success, though, came from the Division II transfer in Gohlke. He went 10-for-20 from deep off the bench, dropping 32 points. He became the fifth player in tournament history to hit at least 10 three-pointers.
In the regular season, he had 324 three-point attempts, and just eight shots from inside the perimeter.
It may be an upset on paper, but Gohlke sounded all too confident in his squad after the game.
In his postgame interview, he kept it blunt: “We’re not a Cinderella.”
Jack Gohlke of the Oakland Golden Grizzlies celebrates after making a 3-pointer against the Kentucky Wildcats during the second half in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at PPG Paints Arena March 21, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
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With the loss, it’s Kentucky’s second first-round loss in three years as a top-three seed – they also lost to No. 15 St. Peter’s in 2022 at a two-seed.
Oakland will face the winner of No. 6 Texas Tech and No. 11 N.C. State on Saturday.
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