AJ Mast / Associated Press
Cinderella is still dancing.
After impressing the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the 2021 NCAA men’s tournament, the 15th-placed Oral Roberts Golden Eagles overcame a double-digit deficit and shocked the Florida Gators 81-78 in Sunday’s second round. confrontation at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.
Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor led the way for the winners, who advanced to Sweet 16 for the first time since the 1973-74 season.
A solid showing by Tre Mann was not enough for the Gators, who have not advanced to the second round since 2017.
Notable player statistics
- Kevin Obanor, F, OR: 28 PTS, 11 REB, 4 STL
- Max Abmas, G, OR: 26 PTS, 7 AST, 2 STL, 2 REB
- Tre Mann, G, FL: 19 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST
- Noah Locke, G, FL: 17 PTS, 4 REB
- Colin Castleton, F, FL: 14 PTS, 10 REB, 3 BLK
- Tyree Appleby, G, FL: 14 PTS, 5 AST, 3 STL
Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor continue to put on a show
Oral Roberts has already proven that he is not the typical No. 15 seed with a victory over a Big Ten power, but a look at his attack confirms this.
With the release of Abmas and Obanor, the Golden Eagles ended in a tie for 10th place in the country in the regular season with 81.8 points per game. The pair also had a lot of momentum in Sunday’s game, after adding 59 points in the victory over the Buckeyes.
Abmas resumed where he left off against the Gators and scored 16 points in the first half alone, connecting in triple multiples and cutting across the track whenever the defenders pressed their shot from the outside.
He kept Oral Roberts at an attacking distance, despite an impressive display by Mann on the other side, which is everything the Cinderella candidate could have asked to enter in the second half.
He needed help, however, and Obanor found his touchdown in the second half when the Golden Eagles fell behind by double digits.
Obanor connected in a four-point clutch play to trigger a race and took the time to squeeze after his team fell behind in six. He converted an e-1 to reduce the lead to three, answered an e-1 on the other side with a three, put his team ahead with a jumper on the track with less than three minutes to go and made a 17-second clutch free throw remaining to take the advantage to three.
The two-player game was enough against Ohio State, and it also worked against Florida. No other Oral Roberts player scored double digits, but it didn’t matter with Abmas and Obanor lighting the scoreboard in another turn.
Florida collapses with twists
It looked like Florida had a chance when the Golden Eagles shocked the world in the first round.
It is not very common for a 7 seed to play a 15 seed, but the Gators still had to seize the opportunity. Doing so resulted in an attack against an Oral Roberts defense that reached number 249 on KenPom.com’s rankings and I didn’t have the courage to deal with Mann.
It was clear from the start that the Golden Eagles had no answer for the All-SEC team, which did a little bit of everything in the first half to put the Gators in the lead.
While Noah Locke and Anthony Duruji provided secondary scores, it was Mann who fought for the backboards, making it easy when necessary and finding openings in the defense to create kicks for him and others.
It was Mann who punched three triples in the opening minutes of the second half as well, which allowed the Gators to finally create some split with a double-digit lead after a shuttle in the first half.
Florida seemed prepared to cross to the finish line after that spurt, especially with Tyree Appleby assisting, Locke hitting from the bottom and Colin Castleton settling low against a wide area of attack. However, he would never be able to walk away entirely due to 20 laps.
The Gators did not score a single point in the final two minutes and, appropriately, had several twists and turns in that period, which cost them.
What is the next?
The Golden Eagles will face the Arkansas Razorbacks in third place in a Sweet 16 clash in the southern region.