PITTSBURGH — Jack Gohlke drilled 10 3-pointers en route to 32 points and DQ Cole buried the final triple of the game to clinch No. 14 seed Oakland’s 80-76 upset of No. 3 seed Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
The Golden Grizzlies (24-11) led for nearly the entire second half and went shot for shot with the heavily favored Wildcats (23-10) down the stretch. Oakland advances to the Round of 32 for the first time since joining Division I while handing Kentucky its second first-round exit in three years.
Gohlke, a graduate transfer from Division II Hillsdale, made half his 20 3-point attempts, coming one shy of tying the tournament single-game record set by Jeff Fryer of Loyola Marymount in 1990.
Trey Townsend paired 17 points with 12 rebounds for Horizon League champion Oakland, and Cole added 12 points and eight boards while shooting 3-for-3 from deep.
Antonio Reeves scored 27 points and went 5-for-9 on 3-point shots in his attempt to carry Kentucky back from the dead. Tre Mitchell had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Rob Dillingham and Justin Edwards each scored 10.
Gohlke’s 10th 3-pointer came with 4:35 left, but Reeves answered right away with his own to cut Kentucky’s deficit to 67-65.
After Oakland moved ahead by four, Reed Sheppard fouled Gohlke in the act of shooting a trey. Gohlke buried the first two free throws for a 71-65 advantage.
Edwards hit a corner 3-pointer to halve the margin with 3:06 left. Townsend’s turnaround jumper made it 73-68, but Reeves drilled another trey in response.
Oakland made two free throws and Dillingham’s 3-pointer brought Kentucky’s deficit to one with 1:03 to go.
Rocket Watts passed from the paint to the left corner to Cole, whose 3-pointer restored a four-point margin with 28 seconds left.
Gohlke guided Oakland to a 38-35 halftime lead. The Golden Grizzlies missed 12 of their first 13 shots, but they outworked Kentucky on the glass to fire up second and third tries.
Cole made a triple for Oakland’s first points before it was Gohlke’s turn. Gohlke drilled back-to-back 3-pointers twice in less than a four-minute span, connecting from nearly every spot around the arc.
After Gohlke’s fourth make, he fired off a bow-and-arrow celebration. When he made his fifth a minute later, all he could do was stick out his tongue in the direction of his school’s pep band.
Reeves twice tied the game with a 3-pointer, and one of Gohlke’s teammates answered with a triple time. Dillingham scored seven straight Kentucky points for a 35-33 lead with 2:45 left in the half — and Gohlke banked in his seventh triple a minute later.
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media