The Arkansas Razorbacks (10-2, 0-0 SEC) have one game remaining in the 2024 calendar year and will host the Oakland Golden Grizzlies (4-9, 1-2 Horizon) on Monday at Bud Walton Arena.
The Razorbacks and Golden Grizzlies have met on two separate occasions, and Arkansas has won both times. The first matchup came in 2006 and the Razorbacks took a 71-57 victory. The next meeting came in 2011, a game Arkansas won 91-68.
Arkansas head coach John Calipari has his own recent history with Oakland, and it's not a big stretch to say that game was a catalyst for his decision to leave Kentucky at the end of last season to come to Arkansas. The Golden Grizzlies defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 80-76 in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament behind 32 points from Jack Gohlke, who hit 10 threes to win the game.
Oakland is led by head coach Greg Kampe, who is the longest-tenured active college basketball coach and has been with the program for 41 years. He has made four trips to the NCAA Division I Tournament in that time and also had four trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament before Oakland made the jump to Division I.
This season hasn't gone well for Oakland, as the Golden Grizzlies are 4-9 on the season and 1-2 in Horizon League play. They most recently played in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii, where they beat Loyola Chicago 72-71 before an 80-74 overtime loss to Oregon State and a 73-70 overtime loss to Hawaii.
Here's HawgBeat's preview of what you need to know about the Oakland Golden Grizzlies ahead of Monday's contest, including analytics, players to watch for and more...
