Oakland Star Trey Townsend Says They Can Compete W/ Anyone After Kentucky Upset

95% of brackets had Kentucky beating Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tourney, so while nearly no one in the outside world believed in the Golden Grizzlies, their squad did, including star hooper Trey Townsend who hopes this proves rankings ain't everything!

As you know, the 14th-ranked Oakland Golden Grizzlies officially kicked off the Madness in March when they defeated John Calipari's number 3-seeded Kentucky Wildcats ... the tournament's biggest upset (so far).

"You can't put that mindset on yourself going to a game thinking you're lesser than your opponent, because you're, per se, shooting yourself in the foot and giving yourself a disadvantage mentally," Townsend said.

"We come in confident and play our best game, play as hard as we can and we're just as good and can compete with anyone in the country. We proved it [Thursday]," the team leader told us.

Now, Oakland (located in Michigan, not California) will face No. 11 North Carolina State in the second round on Saturday ... and Townsend believes they've got a real path to the Sweet 16! Especially with Jack Gohlke shooting lights out (he knocked down 10 threes)!

"I think it's just playing the way we have all season," Townsend said. "The biggest thing, especially at this time of the year, is to stay consistent to what you've done to get you to this point."

"We're not gonna take anything lightly, even though we just had a big win. You gotta keep that in your back pocket for now and we can celebrate after a long run in this tournament."

As if Trey and Oakland's story wasn't already cool enough, his dad Skip Townsend, who was not only a credentialed media member working Thursday's game, but also a former hooper on the Golden Grizzlies team.

In fact, Skip played for Oakland's CURRENT coach, Greg Kampe, way back in the 80s! His mom Nicole was also on the women's basketball team.

"I always wanted to be an Oakland uniform and be like my dad," Trey said.