The 2009–10 Oakland Golden Grizzlies men's basketball team were a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college basketball team representing Oakland University. Oakland finished the season 26–9 overall, 17–1 in The Summit League and were the league's regular season and conference tournament champions. The Golden Grizzlies received The Summit League's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament and, as a No. 14 seed, lost to No. 3 Pittsburgh in the first round.
Preseason Oakland was picked to win The Summit League championship, receiving 34 of the 35 first place votes. The Golden Grizzlies returned three starters from the 2008–09 team, plus senior Derick Nelson, who sat out the majority of the previous season due to a foot injury.
Also returning for Oakland was senior point guard Johnathon Jones, who led all Division I players in assists and junior center Keith Benson, who was being projected as a first round National Basketball Association draft pick. Benson, Jones and Nelson were each selected to The Summit League's pre-season all-league teams with Jones being selected as the pre-season Player of the Year.
Oakland's schedule included road games against the pre-season consensus number one and two teams, Kansas and Michigan State.
Season Oakland finished the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 6–7 record. OU lost all if its games against BCS conference teams (0–5) and went 6–2 against the rest of the schedule, with losses coming against Eastern Michigan and Memphis.
The Golden Grizzlies opened The Summit League schedule by winning their first nine games, marking the best start in league history. During the steak, Oakland defeated 67–64, earning its first win at the Mabee Center in 10 years. The loss was just ORU’s sixth Summit League home defeat in its last 59 games.
Records Jones became The Summit League's all-time leading assists leader with 11 assists against on November 28, 2009. Jones broke the record of 626 held by Bryce Drew of Valparaiso.
Jones broke the conference and school records for consecutive free throws, having made 43 in a row from December 5 through January 23. Jones broke the school record of 33, set by Scott Bittinger in the 1987–88 season.
Jones also set Oakland school records for career games played and career games started. Jones passed Patrick McCloskey for most games played with 125 from 2004 to 2008 and Dan Champagne, who set the previous record of 113 games started from 1997 to 2002.
Oakland tied The Summit League's record for consecutive regular season win with their 16th victory in a row against . The 16 wins span two seasons and tied the Cleveland State team that won 16 in a row in 1992 and 1993.
Milestones Benson became the 28th player in Oakland history to score at least 1,000 career points, reaching the milestone during a 99–53 victory over . Current teammates Jones (1,674 points) and Nelson (1,529 points) are also members of the 1,000-point club.
Jones scored his 1,500th career point in a January 24 victory against South Dakota State. Nelson reached the 1,500th point mark during the finals of The Summit League tournament where he led Oakland to the title with a career-high 36 points. Jones was the 15th and Nelson the 16th player in Oukland history to join the 1,500-point club.
Roster No. Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown (Previous school) 3 Travis Bader * G 6'3" 164 Fr. Okemos, MI (Okemos) 34 Keith Benson C 6'11" 221 Jr. Farmington Hills, MI (Country Day) 22 Blake Cushingberry G 6'3" 243 So. Romeo, MI (Romeo) 12 Ledrick Eackles G 6'1" 184 Fr. Zachary, LA (Zachary) 4 Reggie Hamilton * G 5'11" 175 Jr. Harvey, IL (UMKC) 11 Will Hudson F 6'9" 233 Jr. Madison, WI (Middleton) 23 Johnathon Jones G 5'11" 160 Sr. Okemos, MI (Okemos) 33 John Kast G 6'2" 181 Sr. Clarkston, MI (Clarkston) 32 Drew Maynard G 6'6" 231 So. Lake Orion, MI (Lake Orion) 50 Ilija Milutinovic C 7'0" 247 So. Niš, Serbia (Milestone Christian Academy (MO)) 1 Derick Nelson F 6'5" 236 Sr. Lansing, MI (Bridgton Academy) 44 Jay Thames F 6'8" 202 Fr. Port Huron, MI (Port Huron Northern) 15 Drew Valentine F 6'4" 212 Fr. Lansing, MI (Sexton) 2 Larry Wright G 6'2" 162 Jr. Saginaw, MI (St. John's) * Redshirting 2009–10 season
Schedule
!colspan=9| Exhibition
!colspan=9| Regular season
!colspan=9| 2010 The Summit League men's basketball tournament
!colspan=10| 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
References