Kay Felder goes for the layup Sunday when Oakland hosted UIC. Bryan Everson/Press Row Sports
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]akland could have probably gotten by with a bare-minimum effort Sunday afternoon, but there were signs of improvement — and an identity — after Friday night’s letdown against Valparaiso.
Junior point guard Kahlil Felder scored a team-high 26 points, and the Golden Grizzlies rebounded to cap off a four-game homestand with a 86-61 win against UIC.
“Today we got back, and we didn’t run,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. “We walked the ball up the floor and scored 86 points. We were efficient.”
After a game with lapses on the defensive end, Oakland bunkered down and held the Flames to just 21 points in the first half, bringing nearly full-court pressure to create a total of 15 Flames’ turnovers.
“That’s what this team can do, cause havoc, cause turnovers on defense,” Felder said. “I love playing that way, playing 94 feet, checking guys baseline-to-baseline.”
Each team began the game with extended runs, but the hosts bullied through a first half that saw neither team make a 3-pointer (0/12 3FGA) with a 16-3 run. Oakland re-emerged from the locker room with the same intensity as Max Hooper kept the school’s now 852-game streak of a made 3-pointer alive, and the Golden Grizzlies were cruising ahead by 25 points less than midway through the second half.
Kampe intimated that the identity the team set out to find even before the regular season surfaced again tonight.
“We lost our way,” Kampe said. “We went to Spain, and we were going to press, pound the ball inside, and shoot 3’s on kick-outs, and we went to Spain and we scored 101 [points per] game. And that started the erosion of what we were going to be.”
“Then, we played the No. 1 team in the country and scored 50 points in the first half. So, this erosion of what we were going to do kept taking place. Sherron, against Valpo, came down maybe on back-to-back possessions of the first half and made contested 3’s, and I looked at [assistant coach Saddi Washington] and said, ‘We’re in real trouble.’ And that’s when it dawned on me that we had completely lost our way…we were just out there trying to outscore people.”
“Our [numbers] are fantastic, but we were losing how much we care about playing defense, and it’s eroding, and it kept eroding, and it slapped us in the face against Youngstown State. We scored 98 and lost, which should never happen when you’re at home. And then we got spanked by Valpo, and it’s all because we lost our way.”
“We played from the basket out today, and if we’re going to be great, that’s how we have to play.”
Percy Gibson, who was utilized little in the previous defeat to the Crusaders, was part of a return to that philosophy. The senior center didn’t play in the first half, but came off the bench to score nine points (7-of-7 free throws) and snag two rebounds.
“If he can play at the level of intensity and physicality that he played with in the second half tonight, we’ve got a chance to achieve greatness with this team,” Kampe said.
Felder, who had a poor shooting performance in his last outing, followed it up with a more efficient 11-of-17 shooting night from the field, and also accumulated three steals and two blocks. Brad Brechting and Jalen Hayes each finished with 10 points, and while no player outside that trio made a field goal before halftime, six players did so by the game’s end, with the Golden Grizzlies shooting 56 percent in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Flames shot under 38 percent from the floor, and made just 14 free throws compared to Oakland’s 32. Freshman forward Dikembe Dixson was a continued reason of optimism for first year UIC coach Steve McClain, though, tying a career-high with 28 points on 10-of-23 shooting.
“I think [Dixson’s] going to be [Horizon League Freshman of the Year],” Kampe said. “Preparing for them, you think they’re not far away.”
Junior forward Najeal Young added eight points and eight rebounds for the Flames.
A rivalry showdown with Detroit awaits on Saturday (3 p.m. ET) at Calihan Hall for Oakland.
“Detroit is supposed to be a rivalry, but if we win every time, then it won’t be,” Felder said.
