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Oral Roberts became the second No.15 seed to reach the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 when the Golden Eagles knocked out 7th seed Florida 81-78 on Sunday. Just two days after leading Oral Roberts to a shocking upheaval from the No. 2 seed at Ohio State, the duo of Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor broke through again with 54 points combined.
Florida led 67-56 with 9:48 left, but it turned cold late as Oral Roberts once again proved he had the clutch gene. The Eagles were particularly hung up on the free throw line, scoring 19 of 23 attempts.
Next up for Oral Roberts will be a Sweet 16 game with No.3 seed Arkansas, who outlasted Texas Tech 68-66 on Sunday. The teams have met once before this season, and Oral Roberts has scared the Razorbacks. The Golden Eagles were actually leading 40-30 at halftime before Arkansas came back for an 87-76 victory.
But Oral Roberts has since proven that he can hang on to anyone in the country, and if he beat Arkansas he would become the first No.15 seed to reach the top eight. The only other No.15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 was the Florida Gulf Coast in 2013 when they beat the No.2 seed Georgetown and the No.7 seed San Diego State in the first weekend. end and lost to No.3 seed Florida Soft 16.
Indomitable Duo
Abmas entered the NCAA tournament as the nation’s top scorer and only increased his advantage in that category with two heroic performances so far in the NCAA tournament. Obanor has been by his side in the scores throughout the season and has even taken his game to the next level on the big stage.
The two scored a total of 59 points as each played every second of the overtime victory over the Buckeyes. The two played the whole 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 10 minutes.
Looking forward
Paul Mills took over as coach from Oral Roberts ahead of the 2017-18 season after working for Baylor under Scott Drew from 2003 to 2017. Now he’s just one victory away. a potential match with his former team. Baylor is the # 1 seed in the southern region. With a win over Arkansas, Oral Roberts would likely face Baylor with a Final Four spot on the line.
ORU’s first meeting with the Razorbacks was on Dec. 20, and Arkansas caught fire in the second half with 57 points to avoid a loss. But Abmas had an unusually quiet game, scoring just 11 points on 4 of 11 shots. Arkansas will need to review the board and see what he did to contain the 6-1 / 2-inch dynamo in this contest, as the strategies defenses employed by the state of Ohio and Florida have clearly failed.
Florida folds
The Gators failed to score in the 2:29 final after winning what appeared to be a comfortable lead midway through the second half. In the end, they were outscored 25-11 in the home stretch as their season of adversity ended in disappointment.
In some ways, making it to the dawn of the Sweet 16 should be seen as a success for Florida after losing pre-season SEC Player of the Year Keyontae Johnson for the season after his frightening court meltdown. Florida State December 12. But the Gators rallied without him and even reached 22nd place in the PA poll in February. However, Florida have lost four of their last six games and it now marks three straight NCAA tournament appearances that saw Florida fail to escape on the first weekend.
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