The Oakland men’s basketball program began competing in the 1967 season. The Pioneers were without a conference until 1974 when they joined GLIAC. Oakland won two regular season GLIAC championships, in 1995–96 and 1996–97, their final two seasons in the league. Oakland played at the Division II level until 1997 when they changed their nickname to the Golden Grizzlies and began the transition to Division I. The Golden Grizzlies completed the transition to Division I in 1999 and joined the Mid-Continent Conference (now known as The Summit League). The Golden Grizzlies joined the Horizon League starting in the 2013–14 season. In 2021, The Golden Grizzlies lose their 1,000 day streak of winning against Detroit Mercy. In 2022, Oakland looks to build upon this game to challenge for its first Horizon League trophy since 2017. In the 2023-24 season, the Golden Grizzlies won the Horizon League Tournament for the first time.