Oakland Sold $8K in Shirts to Louisville Fans After March Madness Upset vs. Kentucky

Oakland men's basketball head coach Greg Kampe says the team sold $8,000 worth of shirts to Louisville-area fans after upsetting Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament, according to ESPN's Brooke Pryor.

No. 14 Oakland eliminated No. 3 Kentucky with a bracket-busting 80-76 victory on Thursday night.

Kampe said the university website crashed as fans rushed to buy merch after Oakland's upset, according to Tony Garcia of the Detroit Free Press.

"I don't know if when Louisville and UK play next year, the Louisville people are gonna show up in Oakland shirts, or what," Kampe said, per Will Graves of the Associated Press.

The Golden Grizzlies won after holding projected top-five 2024 NBA draft picks Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham to a combined 13 points on 3-for-14 shooting from the field. Meanwhile, Oakland guard Jack Gohlke racked up a career-high 32 points, including 10 three-pointers, from the bench.

Gohlke's career performance helped send Oakland to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history, as well as earn a few new fans in Louisville.

There won't be any more Wildcats basketball for Kentucky fans to watch this season, but they can tune in on Saturday to see Oakland play again. At 7:10 p.m. ET at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Oakland will battle No. 11 NC State, fresh off an upset of its own over Texas Tech, for a ticket to the Sweet 16.