Everywhere Roberts selected only the second No. 15 to ever reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament when the Golden Eagles beat No. 7-ranked Florida 81-78 on Sunday. Just two days after dressing Oral Roberts after a shocking upset from Ohio State No. 2, the duel between Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor once again pulled big with a combined 54 points.
Florida led 67-56 with 9:48, but got cold late as Oral Roberts once again proved he had the clutch gene. The Eagles were particularly coupled with the free throw line and made 19 to 23 attempts.
Next for Oral Roberts is a Sweet 16 game with Arkansas, the no. 3, which Texas Tech survived 68-66 Sunday. The teams have met once this season, and Oral Roberts has scared the Razorbacks. The Golden Eagles actually led 40-30 at halftime before Arkansas shouted back for an 87-76 victory.
But Oral Roberts has since proven that it can hang with anyone in the country, and if it beats Arkansas, it will become the first No. 15 series to ever reach the Elite Eight. The only other No. 15 seed to make the Sweet 16 series was the Gulf Coast of Florida in 2013, when it beat the first weekend of the Seed Georgetown and No. 7 San Diego in the first weekend and against the third seeded Florida in the Sweet 16.
Untamed duo
Abmas entered the NCAA Tournament as the nation’s leading scorer and has so far only increased his lead in this category with two heroic performances in the NCAA Tournament. Obanor was right on the sidelines throughout the season and even kicked off his game on the big stage.
The two scored a combined 59 points, while each played with the Buckeyes every second of overtime. Both played the entire game again on Sunday, and Obanor saved his best for last. The 6-foot-8 junior scored 20 of his 28 points in the second half, including 13 in the final ten minutes.
Looking forward
Paul Mills hired the coach for Oral Roberts before the 2017-18 season after working at Baylor’s staff under Scott Drew from 2003 to 2017. He is now just one win away from a possible match with his old group. Baylor is the number 1 seed in the Southern region. With a win over Arkansas, Oral Roberts Baylor is likely to come up with a place in the Final Four.
The first meeting between ORU and the Razorbacks took place on December 20 and Arkansas caught fire with 57 points in the second half to avoid a loss. But Abmas had an unusually quiet game and scored just 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Arkansas will have to review the band and see what it did to contain the 6-foot-1 dynamo in that game because the defensive strategies used by the state of Ohio and Florida have clearly failed.
Florida vou
The Gators failed in the final 2:29 after earning a comfortable lead halfway through the second half. Eventually, they were outscored 25-11 as their season of adversity reached a disappointing end.
In some ways, the fight to the Sweet 16 series should be considered a success for Florida, after losing SEC Player of the Year Keyontae Johnson of the season for the season after his terrifying collapse in court in Florida on 12 December. But the Gators rallied without him and even reached number 22 in the AP poll in February. However, Florida has lost four of its last six games, and that now means three consecutive NCAA tournaments that Florida was unable to escape the first weekend.