Evansville, IN – To open up the 2022-23 campaign, the Men's Basketball team of Oakland City University traveled to Evansville. The Mighty Oaks played the Purple Aces of the University of Evansville in an exhibition match at the Ford Center.
Oakland City started off on a good note, scoring the first two points of the evening when Jake Cochran hit a layup. Both teams had a tough time scoring early in the game. Eventually the Evansville offense started picking it up and took a significant lead. After a low scoring first half, the Mighty Oaks were trailing 20-36. "Their length and athleticism really had us on our heels early. I thought that we made some adjustment, settled in, and starting playing better in the second half," said coach
Ken French.
In the second half the Mighty Oaks were able to score 36 points to end up with a total of 56. The Purple Aces were also able to score a little more in the second half, the final score of the game was 56-81 in the Ford Center. "It was a great opportunity for us to play against a better opponent. Overall, we had a lot of positives and we got to works on a lot of things we had been practicing. The film will be very good for us," explained French.
Out of 52 field goal attempts, eighteen shots were successful for the Mighty Oaks. One out of eight three-pointers were made. Oakland City found themselves on the free throw line thirty times and scored nineteen times. "I was very pleased with our ability to attack and go at them at times. With our style of play, we have to get to the free throw line and to get thirty free throws is a positive. Now we just need to convert more of those opportunities," French said.
For the Mighty Oaks,
Tyquez Priester led the team in points with sixteen.
DJ Redding led Oakland City with ten rebounds and
Allen Sims was the only Mighty Oak to make a three-pointer.
Another positive that coach French took from the game was his team's attitude. "I thought our guys played with great spirit. People could see our togetherness and culture, which was a big positive!"
Next up for the Mighty Oaks is a game at the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis on November 1. The first home game will be on Saturday November 12 at 3:00 PM versus Simmons College of Kentucky, that will also be the last game before River States Conference play starts.
