History
The Oakland men's basketball program began competing in the 1967 season, 10 years after the university opened. Originally nicknamed the Pioneers, they won their first NCAA game 109–106 in overtime against Albion. The Pioneers were without a conference until 1974 when they joined the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
The first year as members of the GLIAC, Oakland hired Greg Kampe, who is still the head coach at the university. Kampe has the fifth-longest tenure of all active Division I coaches. Oakland won two regular season GLIAC championships, in 1995–96 and 1996–97, their final two seasons in the league. In a 1993 game against Madonna, Oakland scored 91 points in the first half, on their way to a 189–107 victory. That game set school records for most points in a half (98) and largest margin of victory (82). The next three seasons, OU scored more than 100 points 30 times, winning 29 of those games.
Oakland played at the Division II level until 1997 when they changed their nickname to the Golden Grizzlies and began the transition to Division I. OU opened the Athletics Center O'rena in 1998 against Michigan State. The Golden Grizzlies completed the transition to Division I in 1999 and joined the Mid-Continent Conference (now known as The Summit League).
Read more about this topic: Oakland Golden Grizzlies Men's Basketball
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