It's not March without a little madness and the first day of the NCAA Tournament brought plenty of shocking moments. None were more jaw-dropping than Oakland's upset win over Kentucky, led by graduate transfer Jack Gohlke and his knockdown 3-point shooting.
Gohlke buried 10 3-pointers and finished with 32 points in Oakland's 80-76 win. He became a college basketball hero overnight and powered a school that hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2005 past one of the most storied programs in the sport.
Oakland is hardly the first mid-major team to take down a blue-blood program in the NCAA Tournament, nor is Gohlke the first unsung hero to become a star on college basketball's biggest stage. However, Gohlke's play style and route to the March Madness stage is unique.
Gohlke has one job to do when he's on the court: shoot 3-pointers. Of his 355 shot attempts from the field this season, only eight came from inside the arc. He shoots at a near 38 percent clip from deep and only one player at the Division I level made more threes than Gohlke during the regular season.
He missed his first two shot attempts against Kentucky, then made five of his next six. With two minutes left in the first half, Gohlke banked in his seventh 3-pointer giving Oakland the lead. Kentucky led for a total of 40 seconds after that.
Neither Gohlke nor his Oakland teammates were surprised by his performance. They also weren’t surprised by his overnight stardom after a signature March Madness performance most players can only dream of.
“He might have just made himself a March Madness cult hero,” Oakland forward Tuburu Naivalurua said, per The Athletic. “Especially because he looks like a high school history teacher. Everyone loves someone who looks relatable and can do crazy things.”
From Division II bench to March stardom
This is Jack Gohlke's first season with Oakland and first season playing Division I basketball. The Pewaukee, Wis. native spent five seasons at Hillsdale College, a Division II school in Michigan about 120 miles southwest of Oakland University.
Shooting threes was his game there too but he didn’t do it very well during his first two seasons in the rotation. Gohlke made only a quarter of his 3-pointers across those first two years after redshirting during his first season with the program.
His numbers skyrocketed over the next two seasons as Gohlke shot over 40 percent from 3-point range and helped Hillsdale reach the Elite Eight of the Division II tournament in 2022.
Playing the NCAA Tournament was a dream for Gohlke growing up, but he said it faded out once he got to college and started focusing on being the best player he could be for Hillsdale. His hard work and improvement paid off, and an extra year of eligibility landed him a spot at Oakland.
After starting in each of Oakland's first 14 games this season, Gohlke came off the bench in 20 of the next 21, including Thursday. His role, other than the label on it, never changed though. When he's on the floor his Oakland teammates look to him for a triple, whether he's red hot or ice cold.
No matter the situation or the opponent, Gohlke keeps on shooting. On Thursday, his shooting prowess took him and his team to new heights. Now the Grizzlies are poised to make more noise in the NCAA Tournament.
What's next for Oakland, Gohlke
Oakland basketball came into March Madness with a rare confidence that not many underdogs have. Gohlke detailed that following the program's biggest win ever on Thursday.
“Obviously, we come in (and) we’re the underdog by all measures,” Gohlke said, per Zac Jackson. “But as a player, you can’t think that way. You’ve got to go out there and think you have the same talent level as them. 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.”
That's the mindset a team with less talent than most of their opponents needs to have. It could lead Oakland to a deep run in the tournament, or at the very least to the second weekend.
Oakland head coach Greg Kampe helped instill that into his players. After winning the Horizon League Tournament to earn a bid to the dance, Kampe saw the vision and labeled beating Kentucky a “life-changing” opportunity.
“I’ve put that thought in their mind, and they’ve really battled for it, and they understand that their life got changed tonight, but it could get changed a hell of a lot more if we keep this thing going.”
A date with 11-seeded North Carolina State awaits on Saturday. All eyes will be on Jack Gohlke as college basketball's new star tries to make it rain again on a Power-5 opponent.
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