For the first 10 minutes of Friday’s first round game, Oakland University played as well as it could have hoped to. The Golden Grizzlies had Pittsburgh down 18-13 and a rambunctious crowd of supporters rooting them on.
Then the game stopped. Literally.
Oakland senior Derick Nelson took an elbow to the face that sent him to the floor and a bloody mess. After a 10-minute delay, Nelson walked off the floor with blood dripping from his face and staining his hand.
From that point on, the Grizzlies unraveled.
Pittsburgh mounted a 19-2 run and took a 39-26 lead into the break. The Panthers' lead only grew in the second half en route to an 89-66 victory.
“I really thought it was going our way, and then I thought that the thing with Nelson was a double-edged sword,” OU coach Greg Kampe said. “Sure, we lost him, but I thought the ten minutes we stood there really hurt us.”
Nelson would return in the second half, but his efforts went unrewarded. He finished the game 0 for 7 from the field with one point and five turnovers. Oakland’s other senior, Johnathon Jones, also failed to make a shot from the field, going 0 for 6. Junior Larry Wright finished with seven points on 2 of 7 shooting.
All three players are starters for the Grizzlies.
“We didn’t make shots,” Kampe said. “Are they bigger than who we normally play against? Yes. Are they more athletic than who we normally play against? Sure. But if you look around, watched the games yesterday, the teams that get the upsets are the teams that make shots.”
Oakland’s biggest bright spot was its most publicized weapon, junior Keith Benson.
The Grizzlies’ offense was a basic approach of get the ball to Benson and watch. He scored 28 points on 9 of 19 shooting from the field and 10 of 16 from the free throw line, but he would have had to score 50 for that strategy to work on this night.
“They had a lot of players rotate in at the big-man position so I just tried to be physical back with them and tried to keep my endurance up,” Benson said. “I like getting the ball so I was good with the touches.”
Freshman Ledrick Eackles provided some support, scoring 17 points off the bench for the Grizzlies, but much of his production came well after the damage had already been done.
The loss puts Oakland at 0-2 all time in NCAA tournament games, but this loss was far more disappointing for the Grizzlies than their previous first-round ousting in 2005.
“In 2005 we didn’t have a great season, we had a great three days (in the conference tournament),” Kampe said. “We got to go play maybe the greatest team in the history of college basketball that year, North Carolina. So we went into that game knowing we were going to go home. Today we didn’t feel that way. Today we came here believing that we could win.”
Oakland finished the season with a school-record 26 wins (nine losses). For more coverage on the Grizzlies loss to Pittsburgh, click here.
Additional Pittsburgh coverage will be provided by Pittsburgh Panthers Examiner Steve Flinn.
Ross covers Oakland University Athletics for Examiner.com and other area sports for The Oakland Press. You can contact him at rossmaghielse@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @maghielse.
Comments
The game really started off exactly how I was afraid that it would - with OU running the floor and Pitt looking like a bunch of confused freshmen.
However, as was the case with many of the small sharp-shooting teams like OU, once the starters got tired their bench couldnt keep up with Pitt.
I know that the loss is disappointing, but Ive seen the Panthers go from a team that everyone wrote off as a 12 or 13 to a top ranked team. These tourney births, even when they go one and done, are great for smaller schools like OU.
Those guys should be very proud of their season.
Patrick,
I agree. It was a great season for OU. The though thing is the way Jones and Nelson went out, having such horrible performances in their last game. Both guys are key reasons Oakland's program is where it is today -- it's unfortunate they struggled so much in this game. By the way, if you're a big Panthers fan I'd recommend checking out the Pitt Panthers Examiner Steve Flinn. There is a link to his page on this story. Thanks for the reads.
They actually have to beat a team outside the Summit League and MAC before they can expect to get any respect. Next year they might get a 15 seed. Who do they have on the non-conference schedule next season?
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