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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...
Oakland players to watch for
The Golden Grizzlies lost Jack Gohlke at the end of last season, but brought in another guy who is more than capable of shooting the three. Malcolm Christie played last season for Dalhousie University in Canada and is in his first year with Oakland this year.
He averages 11.2 points per game, but the one stat that pops out the most is his three-point shooting. Almost all of his production comes from beyond the arc; he's taken a total of 118 shots this season, and 109 of those are from deep.
Christie had a slow start to the season and only averaged six points through the first eight games, but he's exploded in recent contests. He started every game of the Diamond Head Classic and averaged 21.7 points in those games. He scored 27 points in the loss to Hawaii on 8-of-24 shooting — with seven of those eight baskets coming from three.
Manning the point guard spot for the Golden Grizzlies is D.Q. Cole, a 6-foot-3, 222-pound senior from Pontiac, Michigan. He is the second-leading scorer on the team and averages 11.4 points per game on 32.3% shooting.
Cole brings a veteran presence to the Oakland lineup and is physical when he gets to the rim. He outsizes both D.J. Wagner and Boogie Fland, and while he's not super effective at shooting the three, he does it 8.2 times per game and makes them 28% of the time.
Oakland's leading scorer is Allen Mukeba, a 6-foot-6, 247-pound transfer from Missouri-Kansas City. He has started every game for Oakland this season and averages 13.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
The Golden Grizzlies typically run a zone defense and Mukeba is efficient in it down low. He blocks 1.6 shots per game and while he gives up size to Arkansas' bigs, he makes up for it with a strong motor and good physicality.
The other threat down low Arkansas will need to watch out for is Buru Naivalurua, a 6-foot-6, 239-pound forward who is the team's leading rebounder with 7.8 per game. He is in his second year at Oakland and while he only started one game last season, he's been a solidified piece of Kampe's lineups this season with 12 starts in as many games.
The Sydney, Australia, native scores 11.3 points per game and his rebounding numbers are the result of good anticipation and tracking where the ball goes when it bounces off the rim.
One returner who has made his mark in recent games for Oakland is Isaiah Jones, who is in his second season with the Golden Grizzlies. His season averages don't pop off the screen much — 5.7 points 0.9 assists and 3.7 rebounds — but he scored 10 points against Oregon State and eight points against Hawaii. He's not a sharpshooter from deep, but he's good at getting into the lane and creating his own shot at times.
Analytics preview
Taking a look at the analytics, Arkansas has several advantages over its opponent in Monday's game, but the Hogs cannot afford to take Oakland lightly.
The Golden Grizzlies rank No. 200 in the KenPom rankings overall and are No. 173 in offensive efficiency and No. 219 in defensive efficiency. From a NET rankings standpoint, this game will likely stay as a Quad 4 game. Oakland currently ranks No. 223 in the standings.
As a team, Oakland shoots 50.3% from the field and just 28.5% from three, but they average 7.2 makes from deep per game. The Golden Grizzlies score an average of 64.8 points per game while they give up 71.2 to their opponents.
Since Christie has come onto the scene, Oakland is using him quite a bit. He has the highest usage rate on the team at 25.5%, but Kampe likes to spread the wealth of the usage rate among several players. Mukeba and Cole have usage rates of 25.4% and 24.2%, respectively.
The three ball is an important part of Oakland's game, with 25.4 attempts per game, and the Golden Grizzlies use a lot of inside-out looks to get those shots. The ball goes into the post and if the defense crashes on Mukeba, he dishes it out to a shooter for a shot.
One area where Oakland excels is on the offensive glass. The Golden Grizzlies get 12 offensive rebounds per game, which is three more than Arkansas (9) does on average. Oakland likes to send a lot of guys to the boards in that regard. Naivalurua leads the team with 3.4 offensive rebounds per game and Jones, interestingly, is second on the team at 2.4 per game.
The Golden Grizzlies are not a turnover-prone team and only commit 10.9 per game compared to the 14.3 that Arkansas forces. Mukeba is the primary culprit of those and leads the team with 2.3 turnovers per game.
Wrapping it up
This game has all the makings of a trap game, and the Hogs will need to be prepared and ready so as to not get upset right at the end of the calendar year.
Arkansas hasn't played in over a week and with a road trip to No. 1 Tennessee on Saturday to start league play, it's vital the Razorbacks don't look ahead the same team that knocked Calipari out of the NCAA Tournament roughly nine months ago.
The Razorbacks and Golden Grizzlies will tip off at Bud Walton Arena at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will air on ESPN2.