Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas
The (5-11) Oakland Grizzlies and (9-7) Wright State Raiders will take the floor at the Nutter Center for a Horizon League hoops contest. The Grizz, 1-6 on the road this season, beat Northern Kentucky 64-63 on Friday. The Raiders, 4-3 at home, beat Detroit Mercy 90-85 on Friday.
Wright State beat Oakland three times last season. The Raiders are 16-6 all-time versus the Grizzlies.
Tip-off from Dayton, OH, is at 1:00 p.m. ET.
The Grizzlies are on their first winning streak this season after defeating Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Northern Kentucky. Oakland, who had previously lost eight straight games, was picked to finish fourth in the Horizon League preseason poll and received two first-place votes.
In their last game, the Grizzlies trailed by five at halftime but rallied after the break to beat NKU on the road. Oakland shot 39.6 percent from the field, 30.4 percent from three, and 83.3 percent from the foul line. It out-rebounded Northern Kentucky 35-30, with 11 offensive rebounds, and assisted on 14 of its 21 made field goals.
FIVE Golden grizzlies finished with double figures in yesterday's 64-63 HUGE road win against NKU
Moore 17 pts
Townsend 14 pts
Hervey 10 pts
Watts 10 pts
Conway 10 pts pic.twitter.com/WWdR8xGuxU— Oaklan d Basketball (@OaklandMBB) January 7, 2023
The Grizzlies score 72.6 points and shoot 43.0 percent from the floor, including 31.0 percent from long range. They have a negative rebounding margin. Oakland is 175th in schedule-adjusted offensive efficiency and 82nd in assist-per-turnover ratio (1.13).
Sophomore forward Trey Townsend paces Oakland with 16.4 points on 51.4 percent shooting and 7.1 rebounds. The Grizzlies also count on senior guard Jalen Moore (14.3 PPG and 5.9 APG), senior forward Keaton Hervey (13.3 PPG and 7.6 RPG), junior guard Blake Lampman (10.8 PPG), and junior guard Rocket Watts (9.0 PPG).
The Grizz surrender 76.8 points on 46.4 percent shooting, including 35.6 percent from long range. Its schedule-adjusted defensive efficiency rating is 336th in the country, per KenPom.