Kentucky vs. Oakland: Preview, Odds, How to Watch

Well, here goes nothing. It’s time for Kentucky’s run to Phoenix to begin, starting in Pittsburgh for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. There, they’ll be taking on the Oakland Golden Grizzlies of the Horizon League, coached by 40-year veteran Greg Kampe.

What do you need to know about the matchup? KSR’s got you covered ahead of the opening tip.

How To Watch

No. 12 Kentucky (23-9) vs. Oakland (23-11)
7:10 p.m. ET | Thursday, March 21 | PPG Paints Arena

• TV: CBS (Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, Evan Washburn)
• Streaming: March Madness Live, CBS
• Home Radio: 630 WLAP (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)*
• Online Radio: iHeart
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 210, XM 203, NCAA March Madness App
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

*The NCAA does not allow the UK Sports Network to stream the call with Tom Leach and Goose Givens on iHeart. You must listen via radio.

Need to sneak in those tournament games while at work? Prime Video has you covered. Watch every game live, on your phone, on your laptop, or relax and watch at home on Prime Video, with a subscription. Prime Video gives you choices to add on channels like Paramount Plus and Max, both featuring NCAA tournament games, all in one place. It’s March, it’s Madness, stream it all on Prime Video.

Last Five

Kentucky: NET 18, KenPom 21

• 2/27: 91-89 W at Mississippi State
• 3/2: 111-102 W vs. Arkansas
• 3/6: 93-77 W vs. Vanderbilt
• 3/9: 85-81 W at No. 4 Tennessee
• 3/15: 97-87 L vs. Texas A&M

Oakland: NET 126, KenPom 137

• 2/25: 96-75 L vs. Wright State
• 3/2: 75-70 W vs. Detroit Mercy
• 3/7: 75-65 W vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
• 3/11: 74-71 W vs. Cleveland State
• 3/12: 83-76 W vs. Milwaukee

Series History

Unique postseason matchups present the opportunity for firsts, especially in the early rounds with mid-majors clawing their way into the field of 68. This one is no exception, the first-ever head-to-head battle between Kentucky and Oakland.

That being said, John Calipari and Greg Kampe are longtime friends and have one matchup together prior to the former’s time at Kentucky. The latter has been with the Golden Grizzlies for 40 seasons and said ahead of the NCAA Tournament he’s got another decade-plus in him at Oakland if they’ll have him there.

It’s a matchup between two of the top 15 winningest coaches in college basketball history, but the first as leaders of the Wildcats and Golden Grizzlies.

Kentucky vs. Oakland Odds via FanDuel

Spread: Kentucky -13.5
Total: 160.5

Kentucky Projected Starters

(Starting lineup based on last game)

#15 – DJ Wagner
6-4 • 192 • GUARD • FRESHMAN
10.3 PPG, 3.3 APG

#12 – Antonio Reeves
6-6 • 195 • GUARD • SENIOR
20.0 PPG, 4.2 RPG

#1 – Justin Edwards
6-8 • 203 • GUARD • FRESHMAN
8.7 PPG, 3.5 RPG

#4 – Adou Thiero
6-8 • 222 • GUARD • SOPHOMORE
7.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG

#2 – Ugonna Onyenso
7-1 • 226 • FORWARD • FRESHMAN
3.6 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.7 BPG

Head Coach: John Calipari (32nd season, 15th at UK) – 855-262 overall, 410-122 at UK

Oakland Key Standouts

(Starting lineup based on the last game)

#10 – DQ Cole
6-3 • 189 • GUARD • JUNIOR
8.7 PPG, 2.1 APG, 4.0 RPG

#11 – Blake Lampman
6-3 • 184 • GUARD • SENIOR
13.2 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 3.0 APG

#3 – Jack Gohlke
6-3 • 215 • GUARD • SENIOR
12.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 1.1 APG

#4 – Trey Townsend
6-6 • 228 • FORWARD • JUNIOR
16.9 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.1 APG

#2 – Chris Conway
6-9 • 221 • FORWARD • JUNIOR
10.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG

Head Coach: Greg Kampe (40th season at Oakland, 40th overall): 698-536 overall

Statistical Comparison

(via Kentucky’s game notes)

Fun stats from UK’s game notes:

• Entering the NCAA Tournament, the Cats rank among the top-10 nationally in 3-point percentage (1st), scoring (2nd), blocks per game (3rd), fastbreak points (4th), field-goal percentage (5th), bench points (7th) and assists per game (10th).
• Reed Sheppard became UK’s third-ever winner of the USBWA Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Year. He joins John Wall (2010) and Anthony Davis (2012) as the other winners. Sheppard was the SEC Freshman of the Year by the league’s coaches.
• Kentucky is making its nation-leading 61st NCAA Tournament appearance, totaling a 130-54 all-time record.
• UK has played 10 games against eight teams ranked in the March 11th Associated Press Top 25 entering the NCAA Tournament.
• Antonio Reeves became UK’s 57th All-American when he was tabbed to The Sporting News’ Third Team. He was also a first-team pick to the All-SEC squad by both the coaches and media.

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Pregame Storylines

ALL EYES ON TREY TOWNSEND

Coming off a 38-point effort in the Horizon League Championship, Townsend is undoubtedly at the top of the scouting report for Kentucky as the Horizon Player of the Year. He’s an absolute force, averaging 17 and 8 for the Golden Grizzlies en route to First Team All-League honors. Interestingly enough, his father played for Coach Kampe, following in his same footsteps to Oakland — just like Reed Sheppard. Starting in 127 games to date, he ranks second in school history in that category and fourth in minutes played with 4,416. Falling short of the double-digit mark just four times this season with 10 of 20-plus, the physical wing will be tough to contain.

JACK GOHLKE AND BLAKE LAMPMAN ARE SNIPERS

Townsend is the inside scoring threat while Gohlke and Lampman are the dagger-throwers from the outside, both earning All-League honors in their own right, the former as Sixth Man of the Year and the latter as Second Team All-Horizon. Gohlke ranks sixth in program history for most threes in a season with 121, fifth in threes per game at 3.56 and third in attempts with 327. Interestingly enough, he’s only taken eight total twos on the year with four makes inside the arc. As for Lampman, he set the school’s all-time record for most games at Oakland and ranks fifth in career threes with 276. They both shoot 37% from the field on a combined 19 attempts per contest.

GREG KAMPE STILL HAS PLENTY IN THE TANK

The veteran coach is just the fifth in DI history to coach 40 seasons at one school and lead the team to the NCAA Tournament 4 times, joining a brief list that includes Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Ray Meyer (DePaul) and Adolph Rupp (Kentucky). He’s racked up 675 career wins, good for No. 11 on the all-time list, and was enshrined into the American Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023 and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. “Greg is a great coach. Not a good coach, a great coach,” John Calipari said of his longtime friend.

A PITTSBURGH HOMECOMING

The opening round taking place in the Steel City is unique as it will be a homecoming for several Wildcats with both coaches and players. Up top, John Calipari was born in Sewickley and graduated from Moon Area High School in ’78 while Orlando Antigua both coached and played at Pitt before making his way to Lexington. As for the roster, Tre Mitchell was born and raised in Pittsburgh while Adou Thiero is from Leetsdale, just 15 miles away from downtown.

“It means the world to be back home in my final year of college basketball,” Mitchell said, adding it’s a full-circle moment to be here. Now he hopes to lead the Cats out of Pittsburgh and into Dallas for the second round.

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Join The Discussion on KSBoard

For the first time in over a decade, KSR will be without its in-game live blogs, a longtime tradition here on the blog. Unfortunately, the company that hosted the KSR live blogs no longer exists, so we are without the machine that made it all possible.

If you still want to interact with the KSR crew, consider joining the conversation on KSBoard. New members can try 1 month for $1.

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Rapid Reaction on the KSR YouTube Channel

Miss the game? KSR’s got you covered with a Rapid Reaction live from PPG Paints Arena on the KSR YouTube Channel. We’ll also have wall-to-wall postgame coverage on the website, including highlights, comments from John Calipari and the players, stats, and takeaways.

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