Somewhere in southeast Michigan, a mid-major program led by the nation’s longest-tenured head coach is letting out a sigh of relief. The Oakland Golden Grizzlies, coached by Greg Kampe in his 42nd season with the program, are coming off arguably the toughest opening stretch in the country.
To open the season, Oakland played at No. 7 Michigan, before becoming the first team since Oklahoma in 1990 to face the No. 1 team in back-to-back games with matchups against Purdue and Houston on the road. The Golden Grizzlies had one game against a non-Division I opponent before capping an unbelievable opening stretch with a game at UCF.
Oakland currently sits at 1-5, but has seen plenty of good in the first few weeks of the season, despite the record not saying as much. A particularly good sign in the early going is the production of a transfer making the jump from JUCO to Division I.
Isaac Garrett, a 6-foot-8 forward from Snow College in Utah, has stood out through six games. Garrett leads to the team in scoring at 16.5 points per game. Just getting Garrett to Oakland was a recruiting win for Kampe, and the strong production this early sweetens the deal.
After entering the portal, Garrett heard from numerous Division I programs, including some high-majors. Before committing, he narrowed his selection down to three schools: Oakland, Florida State and Cal.
“If I was playing basketball 10 years ago, I probably would have ended up at Florida State,” Garrett said. “But I think in today’s modern college basketball, it’s more about fit and opportunity for the future. Those are the reasons I chose Oakland.”
In the four games against high-major opponents, Garrett showcased why high-majors were interested, scoring 20-plus points three times. He had 20 points in his Division-I debut against Michigan, followed by 20 against Houston and 23 against UCF.
Individual talent on the offensive end has played a large part in Garrett’s early success, but sharing the frontcourt with Tuburu Naivalurua, the preseason Player of the Year in the Horizon League, has eased the transition.
“He’s been here three years,” Garrett said. “He was on that team that beat Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament, and I’ve definitely looked up to him.”
It’s not just from a leadership perspective where Garrett has reaped the benefits of Naivalurua’s presence. The offense has come to Garrett naturally as teams have to show Naivalurua significant defensive attention.
“He’s obviously super talented, so it definitely takes pressure off me knowing that not all five guys on the other team are staring at me the whole time,” Garrett said. “Being able to feed off each other and almost take turns attacking has been something that is working for us.”
The Golden Grizzlies’ frontcourt has already been strong, and Michael Houge made his season debut on Friday, further strengthening the unit. Houge scored 17 points in just 19 minutes in his first appearance of the season against Eastern Michigan.
The fifth-year senior transferred from Jacksonville State where he averaged 7.4 rebounds in 2024-25. His presence immediately intensifies the physicality of the Oakland frontcourt, something that has been a staple of Kampe’s teams.
“Mike is a force and getting him back is a huge addition for our team,” Garrett said. “You’re going to see a dude who wants to rip people’s heads off every night, he’s going to out rebound you by 20 and he’s going to get to the basket, get fouled and get to the line.”
While the frontcourt may be the identity of Kampe’s 42nd team, there is plenty of talent in the backcourt to lead Oakland through the Horizon League and into a potential tournament appearance.
Brody Robinson leads the way currently, averaging 14.3 points and 4.3 assists, but Ziare Wells, Brett White II and Nassim Mashhour are all averaging just under 10 points per contest. There is plenty of offensive talent on the perimeter to complement Garrett, Naivalurua and Houge.
“Big games, especially tournament games, good guard play is a huge component to winning those games,” Garrett said. “And we definitely got guys that can do it.”
The entire roster, both guards and bigs, has shown flashes of what this Oakland team could become by March. And while the record places the Golden Grizzlies near the bottom of the Horizon League in late November, no team in the conference is as battle-tested as Kampe’s.
Garrett and Naivalurua fared well in matchups with some of the best bigs in the country to start the season, but the size and talent of frontcourts they face will decrease as they continue into matchups with fellow mid-majors and the conference slate.
“My whole life, I’ve played 7-footers and I’ve always felt really comfortable, but these guys are absolute game changers,” Garrett said. “Aday Mara at Michigan is probably the most game-affecting player I’ve ever played against. It’s definitely an adjustment for us and good prep because we’re going to see good bigs, but we’re not going to be seeing dudes doing what those guys are doing.”
Oakland will face one more high-major opponent when it travels to Detroit to play No. 17 Michigan State at Little Caesars Arena. Fans can expect festive attire from the head coaches in that matchup, but they can also expect to see an Oakland team which is well equipped to test Michigan State at times after the gauntlet it played to open the season.
To this point, playing high-majors has delivered nothing but losses for the Golden Grizzlies, but the team has embraced an everything to gain, nothing to lose mindset as it does battle with the top teams in the nation.
“I’m all about playing these big-time games, so I’m excited that we’ve had that schedule,” Garrett said. “And I’m excited that we’re going to be able to play more teams on our level in the next month and see where we match up.”
It takes a gutsy coach to schedule three top-10 teams and a fourth high-major opponent to open the season with another game against a perennially ranked program the next month, but that’s what Kampe did, and his players bought in.
The Golden Grizzlies have an emerging star in the frontcourt next to a veteran all-league performer and a backcourt that can come at you from any direction. It’s only a matter of time before things really click, and the wins should come soon.
There has been plenty of talk about the brutal opening stretch of the season for Oakland, and rightfully so. Now, however, the program’s focus can begin to shift to what really matters.
“It’s all about us and getting better and doing what we have to do to win a Horizon League championship,” Garrett said.
The Golden Grizzlies are certainly among the teams expected to contend for a league crown, and to this point, no team has better prepared themselves for that quest than Oakland.
