In NCAA Tournament upset win, Oakland’s Jack Gohlke deals Kentucky’s defense a final blow

In the still-early moments of the Oakland basketball team’s press conference Thursday night — a media gathering that came immediately after the biggest win in the history of the program — Jack Gohlke offered a stunning self admission.

He was asked about his confidence as a shooter, and in particular his mindset entering the final minutes of the second half of what became a monumental 80-76 upset win for 14 seed Oakland over the 3 seed Kentucky Wildcats in an NCAA Tournament first-round game in Pittsburgh.

“I probably forced one or two that I shouldn’t have taken,” Gohlke said, referencing a 3-point shooting night that started red hot and only slightly cooled over the 40-minute game.

A few seats beside him, 68-year-old Oakland head coach Greg Kampe — now in his 40th season coaching the Golden Grizzlies, the longest tenure in all of NCAA Division I — shook his head dismissively.

On a night like this, and with a result like that, Gohlke had carte blanche to put up shots. The result was a historic shooting performance rarely seen before on the NCAA Tournament stage.

Gohlke scored 32 points and went 10-for-20 (50%) on 3-pointers in the Golden Grizzlies’ win. He’s now one of only five players to ever make double-digit 3-pointers in an NCAA Tournament game.

The others?

Freddie Banks (UNLV in 1987), Roburt Sallie (Memphis in 2009) and Carsen Edwards (Purdue in 2019) have all also made 10 triples. Loyola Marymount’s Jeff Fryer owns the record with 11 made 3-pointers in 1990.

Gohlke’s total amount of attempted 3s (20) also isn’t far off from the record mark of 22 3-point attempts, also held by Fryer from a 1989 tournament game.

“I’m always pretty much just locked into the game,” Gohlke said. “Obviously I’m feeling the emotion of it, for sure. But just focused on trying to make the next shot, trying to win for my teammates. I pretty much — I’m always mad if I miss one, even if I was 10-of-11.”

To an extent, this came by design. Gohlke — a 6-foot-3, sixth-year college player who previously played five seasons at Hillsdale College, an NCAA Division II school in Michigan — entered Thursday’s game having attempted 335 shots this season, with 327 of those (97.6%) being 3-pointers.

All 20 of Gohlke’s shots against the Wildcats were 3-point tries. He made more 3s on Thursday (10) than he’s attempted 2-point shots this season.

He entered the night as a 37% shooter from deep, before making exactly half his 3-pointers against the Cats.

The other two points that Gohlke scored? Those were two made free throws that came after he was fouled by UK’s Reed Sheppard while attempting a 3-pointer with less than four minutes to play.

The staggering stats don’t stop there. In the first half alone, Gohlke made seven 3-pointers, which, after just 20 minutes, set a new mark for the most made 3s by one player against UK in the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s definitely a special thing watching him just 3 after 3 after 3, and he gets so hype out there,” said Trey Townsend, a senior forward and the Horizon League Player of the Year who scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help Oakland to the upset victory.

“It just gives us all momentum and excitement to keep playing hard.”

Oakland’s postgame press conference was filled with the exact type of questions and answers you’d expect when a March Madness star is born.

Gohlke was asked if he was aware of his newfound status as a sports celebrity, if he has plans to continue playing basketball after his final college season ends and similar things of the like.

But his most relevant answer to the here and now was connected to his postgame comments on CBS, during which Gohlke said the Golden Grizzlies aren’t a Cinderella team.

“You gotta go out there and think you have the same talent level as them,” Gohlke said. “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 guys and our team can. 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.”

Whether the moniker sticks or not — and whether the Golden Grizzlies want the label or not — they’re now one step closer to becoming the kind of March Madness story on which the NCAA Tournament is built.

A Saturday matchup with North Carolina State awaits for a spot in the Sweet 16 in Dallas.

“I want to be a bigger celebrity after our team wins the next game,” Gohlke said.

Saturday

No. 14 seed Oakland vs. No. 11 seed North Carolina State

What: NCAA Tournament South Regional second-round game

Where: PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh

When: 7:10 p.m. Saturday, TBS/truTV

Records: Oakland 24-11, North Carolina State 23-14

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