Oral Roberts shocks Ohio state, becomes only ninth-seeded No.15 to overthrow NCAA tournament’s No.2-seed

Oral Roberts became the ninth No.15 seed to beat a No.2 seed in an NCAA tournament game on Friday, when the Eagles shocked Ohio State 75-72 for the first victory on the Big Dance program since 1974. Max Abmas came in as the nation’s top scorer and scored 29 points for ORU, who advance to face No. 7 seed Florida in a second-round game on Sunday.

The game went into overtime, but Abmas and teammate Kevin Obanor helped dominate overtime despite never resting for the full 45 minutes of the game. Obanor finished with 30 as he and Abmas combined to score all but 16 points for Oral Roberts in the game.

This is the first time since 2016 that a No.15 seed has beaten a No.2, although the result has become more common over the past decade. Dating back to 2012, this has happened five times in the last nine NCAA tournaments, with Middle Tennessee’s victory over Michigan State in 2016 being the last.