Oral Roberts became the second No. 15 seed to 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 Oral Roberts led the No. 2 seed to the shocking discomfort of Ohio State, the pair of Max Abmus and Kevin Obanor came forward once again with a combined 54 points.
Florida led 67-56 with 9:48, but Oral Roberts proved once again that he has the clutch gene. The Eagles were particularly clutch on the free-throw line, hitting 19-of-23 attempts.
Next up for Oral Roberts will be Sweet 16 matchup with No. 3 ranked Arkansas, who held Texas Tech 68-66 on Sunday. The teams have met once this season, and Oral Roberts has put the fear in the razorbacks. Arkansas bounced back for an 87-76 victory before the Golden Eagles could actually lead 40-30 at half time.
But Oral Roberts has since proven he can hang out with anyone in the nation, and if he beats Arkansas, he will become the first 15th seed to ever reach Elite Eight. The second to qualify for Sweet 16 was the Florida Gulf Coast in 2013, when it beat No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 7 seed San Diego State in its first week and lost No. 3 seed to Florida. Sweet 16.
The inevitable duo
Abams entered the NCAA Tournament as the country’s leading scorer and the NCAA has only extended its edge in that category with two heroic performances so far in the tournament. Obnor has been on exactly Bux scores this season and has kicked his game into gear on the big stage.
The two combined to score 59 points while every second of the overtime win against the bookies was games. The two played the entire game again on Sunday, and Obenor made his last defense. The 6-foot-8 junior scored 20 of his 28 points in the second half, including 13 in the final 10 minutes.
Looking forward
Paul Mills took a job coaching Oral Roberts before the 2017-18 season after working on Baylor’s staff under Scott Drew from 2003-18 to 2017. Now, he is just one win away from a possible matchup in his old team. Baylor is the No. 1 seed in the southern region. With a win over Arkansas, Oral Roberts will likely face Baylor with a spot in the final four on the Bay Line.
The first meeting between ORU and Razorbacks came on Dec. 20, and Arkansas caught fire with 57 points in the second to avoid damage. But Abmas had a vaguely quiet game, scoring 11 points in a 4-of-11 shooting. Arkansas will need to review the tape and see what it did to include 6-foot-1 dynamos in that competition, as the defensive strategy designated by Ohio State and Florida clearly failed.
Florida fold
The Gators failed to score in the final 2:29 after earning a comfortable lead from the middle in the second half. At the end of their adversarial season reaching a disappointing end, they were outsourced to 25-11.
In some ways, the acquisition of Sweet 16 will be hailed as a success for Florida after the loss of former Season Player of the Year Keonta Johnson for the season after its horrific fall on December 12 in Florida State Court. But the Gators rallied without him, ranking 22nd in the AP polls in February. However, Florida lost four of their last six games and this now reflects the appearance of three straight NCAA tournaments that have seen Florida fail to survive the first weekend.
