After sitting out his first year on campus, Bader came into his redshirt freshman season expecting to be a role player, but started the first game of his college career against West Virginia after he replaced a starting player that violated team rules. Bader finished that game 3–8 on three-point field goals. He started 22 of the season's 35 games and averaged 10.5 points per game in 25.7 minutes per game and shot 44% from three-point range. The 44% was the fourth-highest single-season percentage in Oakland men's basketball history.
Sophomore season
Bader led the NCAA in three-point field goals attempted and finished second in three-point field goals made, finishing 10 behind the NCAA leader. Bader averaged 15.9 points per game in 36.2 minutes per game for the season. On January 26, 2012, he scored a then-career high 37 points on 10–14 3-pt FGs in a win against South Dakota State.
Junior season
During Bader's junior season in 2012–13, Bader was named to The Summit League's preseason All-League First Team. He was named The Summit League's Player of the Week once, on January 28, 2013. Bader scored 30 or more points four times throughout the season. On January 24, Bader scored 47 points vs IUPUI. In that game, he made 15–24 field goals and 11–18 three-pointers, playing all 40 minutes of the game. Bader scored 33 points in the second half, shooting 7–9 on three-pointers. After this game and averaging 36.5 points per game the week of January 20, Bader was named National Player of the Week by ESPN's Dick Vitale, the Capital One Impact Performance of the Week and The Summit League's Player of the Week awards. In the 47-point game, Bader set an Oakland single-game record for three-point field goals made, scored the most points in a game in NCAA Division I that year to that point and tied the league record for most three-pointers in a game. The 47 points are the third-highest total in Oakland history. At the conclusion of the season, Bader was named All-League First Team along with being named to the Lou Hension All-American team. Bader was also named to the Academic All-League team. Bader led the NCAA Division I for three-point field goals per game, averaging 4.21 three-pointers made per game. He also led the NCAA in total number of three-point field goals made as well as percentage of team minutes played. Bader made at least one three-pointer in every game of the season. Bader graduated in 2012 with a degree in communications. Since he earned his undergraduate degree and had one more year of eligibility, he was eligible to transfer without sitting out a year but decided to stay at Oakland.
Senior season
Prior to the season, Bader participated in the Nike Skills Academy in Washington D.C. that featured the best college wing players in the nation. He was named to the Lou Henson Award preseason All-America team along with the Horizon League preseason first team in Oakland's first season in the conference. Bader was also named 1 of 30 candidates for the 2014 Senior CLASS Award. The award recognizes NCAA Division I student athletes that excel in "community, classroom, character and competition". Between his sophomore, junior and senior seasons, Bader made a three-point field goal in 62 consecutive games, which was the active NCAA Division I record at that time. The streak ended December 10, 2013 against Indiana. The last time prior to this Bader did not record a three-pointer was December 30, 2011, when he was 0–3 in three-point FGs against South Dakota State. Bader was named Horizon League co-Player of the Week for the week of December 16–22. Bader made 21 three-point field goals in three games. He recorded the first double-double of his career against Illinois State and made 10 of 15 three-pointers in a loss to Eastern Michigan. He averaged 26 points per game for the week and made 58.3% of this three-pointers while Oakland went 2–1. He shared the award with Green Bay's Alec Brown. On December 27, Bader passed the 2,000 career point mark, scoring 34 points in a win over Defiance. On February 2, 2014, Bader passed J. J. Redick for the career NCAA Division I record for three-point FGs made. Five games later, Bader broke the record for the most career three-point FGs attempted. He finished second in all of NCAA Division I basketball for free throw percentage that season, behind only Johnny Dee of San Diego.
After going undrafted in the 2014 NBA draft, Bader joined the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2014 NBA Summer League. On July 8, 2014, he signed with ASVEL Basket of the French LNB Pro A for the 2014–15 season. In December 2014, he parted ways with ASVEL after averaging just 2.2 points in 13 league games.
In August 2015, Bader won the 2015 installment of The Basketball Tournament as part of team Overseas Elite. In August 2016, Bader again won The Basketball Tournament as part of Overseas Elite. On August 3, 2017, Bader's team, Overseas Elite won its third straight The Basketball Tournament championship with an 86-83 victory over Team Challenge ALS on ESPN.
