MBB: Boise State (9-2) vs Oakland University (2-9,0-2)
Boise State University vs Oakland University
Date: Sunday December 18,2022
Time:2:00pm MT
Stadium: Extra Mile Arena, (12,644)
Stream: Mountain West Network
Radio: KBOI 670 AM
Commentators: Adam Frenier and Abe Jackson
Know Thy Enemy
Who doesn’t love a Sunday matinee? Boise State hosts the Golden Grizzlies from Oakland University on Sunday afternoon for their last non-conference home game of the year. Oakland University, located just miles from Lake St. Claire in Rochester Michigan. The Golden Grizzlies are having a disappointing start to this season, coming into the game with a 2-9 record and currently riding a six-game skid. Last year’s team won 20 games and made it to the conference tournament quarterfinals before falling to #4 seeded Write State. Many thought last season would be a launching point into this season, but that has not been the case with the slow start from the Grizz.
Oakland is a very young basketball team with just one Senior and one Grad Student on their roster. Most of the team is made up of Sophomores with a few Freshman and Juniors sprinkled in. The team really relies on Sophomore forward Trey Townsend to carry the load. Townsend leads the team in almost every offensive category and so far this season has taken 40 more shots than the next guy on the team.
At this point, Oakland is just trying to get through their non-conference schedule and hopefully can have a hard reset for conference play that will start after the holiday. The Grizzlies are being out scored on average by 6.7 points, but really only 5 of their games have been decided by less than 10 points. They also don’t have much size which makes rebounding difficult and that shows as they have been on the losing side of the rebounding battle in every game but one.
The Golden Grizz are coached by Greg Kampe. Kampe has been with the Grizzlies for 38 seasons dating back to 1984. During his time with the program has an overall record of 644-492. Currently Kame sits third on the “Most Seasons With Current School” at the D1 level, trailing only Jim Boeheim at Syracuse and recently retired Coach K at Duke.
The Broncos and Grizzlies have faced one other time back in 2012.
What Happened Last Time
Anthony Drmic had 25 points and 10 rebounds and Derrick Marks scored 18 points as Boise State defeated Oakland 88-80.
Jeff Elorriaga scored 17 points and Igor Hadziomerovic added 15 for the Broncos, who thwarted a second-half charge by the Golden Grizzlies. Duke Mondy scored 21 points and Corey Petros had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Oakland.
Elorriaga hit three 3-pointers over the first six-plus minutes of the second half as Boise State used a 19-4 surge to open a 59-44 lead. The junior finished with four makes from beyond the arc on the offensive end. Defensively he held Oakland's leading scorer, Travis Bader, to 1-of-8 from 3-point range. Bader, a career 41.7-percent shooter from deep, had made multiple 3-pointers in 19-consecutive games dating back to last season.
The Broncos still led by 14 with 9:30 to play before the Golden Grizzlies rolled off nine-consecutive points to pull within 69-64 on a 3-pointer by Mondy with 7:51 remaining.
Marks responded with a pair of driving baskets as Boise State reeled off six-straight points to push the lead back to 11. Boise State converted 7-of-8 free throws in the final 46 seconds to seal the victory.
Player to Watch
OAKLAND
SO., TREY TOWNSEND, F #4
Trey Townsend has established himself as the leader of this young Grizzlies squad. The Sophomore leads the team with his 17 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. As mentioned earlier Townesend led the team in shots taken and shots made and his volume of shooting is evident as he has put up 40 more shots than the next leading shooter. Townsend will play most of his game inside the arc and loves to put the ball on the floor and drive to the hoop.
BOISE STATE
Rs.FR., KOBE YOUNG
Everybody knows the big name guys, but how far down the bench do you know your Broncos? Well, meet Kobe Young, the freshman guard from Chiawana High School who almost signed with Washington to play football! Young has played minimal minutes and has almost no impact offensively so far until last time out against New Orleans when he went berserk for 16 points in 18 minutes. His 16 points led all scorers in the game. Leon seems to be going deeper down the bench in these games against lesser opponents. Maybe in hopes to build some confidence during conference play. Young showed last time that he could handle playing more minutes and even showed his ability to score when taking the chance.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Boise State
OAKLAND
Rev's Route to a Bronco Win
BE BOISE STATE
Only one key to this game. Be. Boise. State. On paper the Broncos are the better team and on the floor they should be the better team. Boise State’s defense alone will knock the life out of the Grizzlies, but with more players for Boise State getting involved offensively the Broncos could get scary good here pretty quickly. I wouldn’t expect Shaver to play Sunday if they can help it. It seems like he’s nursing some injury that keeps him out of the game that Leon thinks they can win without him and Sunday should be no different. All Boise State needs to do to win Sunday is be Boise State. Play stellar defense and keep feeding the hot hand on offense.
Editor Note:
There isn’t much more to say about this one. You’ve got a struggling Oakland team and a surging Boise State team. Boise State has too many “dudes” to let this one slip away.
Boise State 86, Oakland 63
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