Oakland’s Jack Gohlke was Kentucky’s nightmare. Will he be for NC State with his 3s?
Rocket Watts is Jack Gohlke’s roommate at Oakland and was not surprised to see Golhke go off for 32 points Thursday against Kentucky.
Gohlke started nailing 3-pointers and never slowed down. He had 10 in all – plus two routine free throws – as the 14th-seeded Golden Grizzlies came away with an 80-76 victory over the No. 3 Wildcats in a stunner in the NCAA South Region.
“That’s what he does,” Watts said Thursday, grinning. “He did it all year. He works so hard and trusts his work. And he lives and dreams about those 3’s. I think he dreams about taking ‘em in his sleep.”
Gohlke, a 6-3 guard from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, does take a lot of them. Before Thursday, he had taken 335 shots this season from the field and all but eight were 3-pointers.
Eight? How one-dimensional is that?
At least N.C. State won’t be guessing about Gohlke as the Wolfpack (23-14) enters the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena. The Golden Grizzlies (24-11) worked hard Thursday to get Gohlke good looks from the 3-point line and Gohlke, who doesn’t hesitate, has a quick release.
“And I’m always mad if I miss one, even if I was 10 of 11,” said Gohlke, a graduate transfer from Division II Hillsdale College who wears No. 3 for the Grizzlies.
Gohlke was 10-of-20 Thursday, so maybe he was mad -- “I should have made 13,” he said after the game, half joking. But he looked pretty happy running down the hall to the Oakland locker room to celebrate, shouting, “Hell yeah, baby!”
Gohlke isn’t the Grizzlies’ leading scorer this season. That would be Trey Townsend, a 6-6 senior averaging 16.9 points who had a big game of his own against Kentucky: 17 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.
Gohlke, 24, is averaging a more pedestrian 12.9 points and shooting about 38% on 3-pointers, neither particularly eye-opening. But when he has the stroke going ...
Gohlke did not start but was in for 36 minutes and made seven of his 3-pointers in the first half. The Wildcats tried a box-and-one defense during the game with a little success but not enough.
“He missed a couple but he made a lot,” Kentucky guard Antonio Reeves said. “He’s a good shooter and he kept shooting. And he made some tough shots down the stretch.”
The Wolfpack doesn’t want Kentucky’s nightmare to be its own. The regular season is when All-Americans emerge, but March is when heroes are made and can have the national media swooning over them.
Kind of like scoring 32 in an NCAA upset of Kentucky, with a barrage of 3-pointers. That will get you on the CBS highlights quickly.
Gohlke was the guy CBS wanted Thursday for a postgame interview. He said the Grizzlies were not a Cinderella team and should not be considered one despite being seeded 14th in the region and a 13-point underdog against Kentucky.
“I know they have draft picks and I’m not going to the NBA,” Gohlke said. “But I know on any given night I can compete with those guys and our team can. When we play our ‘A’ game, we can be the best team on the floor.”
The Wolfpack has been the best team for the past six straight games and wants to keep it going, keep moving forward. The Pack dispatched Texas Tech 80-67 Thursday in the NCAA’s first round. A win Saturday would put the Wolfpack, the 2024 ACC champion, in the Sweet 16 of the NCAAs for the first time since 2015.
“What do we have now, six wins in a row?” State’s Ben Middlebrooks said. “We’ll definitely be ready for the next one.”
