Since the NCAA men’s basketball tournament expanded to its current format 36 years ago, 144 teams have signed up as 15th seed. Nine out of 144 won a game. Only two have won two games. And yet, none has ever won a third.
Oral Roberts came so close on Saturday night.
He left inches from the March Madness story.
Davonte Davis’ jump with 3.1 seconds left gave Arkansas 3rd place a 72-70 victory over 15th place Golden Eagles.
Max Abmas, the country’s top scorer, lost a score of 3 points on the buzzer that would have sent Oral Roberts to Elite Eight.
Instead, the Razorbacks endured and will advance to face Baylor with the top-seed. But only after a frantic turnaround in the second half – and only after escaping a beautiful final move that almost seemed destined for the March Madness legends.
Oral Roberts gives a scare in Arkansas
Oral Roberts has scored 3 more points per game than anyone in Division I of men’s basketball this season. He took 46.4% of his field goals beyond the hoop. It made 38.2% of these long-range bombs. And went shooting on Saturday.
Seed number 15 failed to score 2 points until the 9:09 mark of the first half. But he did five 3s in the first seven minutes and jumped to an eight point lead.
In the meantime, Arkansas made only a 3-point shot all night. The underdogs achieved a seven-point advantage in the interval.
The Golden Eagles’ seventh 3-point basket gave them a 12-point lead at the start of the second half. But Arkansas increased its defensive pressure and began to intimidate to the edge. He cut the lead to four. Abmas extended it to six. Razorbacks have been reduced to four. Then go back to seven, then go back to three. Arkansas pressure never gave up.
Oral Roberts remained calm. But it was clearly affected by the pressure from Razorback. Your snipers went cold. He didn’t make a single 3-pointer in the final 11 and a half minutes.
Return from Arkansas
Arkansas tied the game with 6:59 remaining, and again with 5:35 remaining. A 5: 1 Jalen Tate layup on the clock gave number 3 the first advantage since halfway through the first half.
Abmas, however, kept the Golden Eagles in the game. He finished with 25 points, equal to the average of the season. And then a three-point play from Kevin Obanor gave Oral Roberts the lead back with less than two minutes to play.
But Tate went to the undersized Abmas at the other end, and scored on him to place Arkansas in 70-69.
Francis Lacis hit one of two free throws to tie the game with 31.5 seconds left.
Instead of asking for a timeout and giving Oral Roberts a chance to define his defense, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman let his guys attack the final possession on their own. Their spacing was not good. Their appearance was not exactly clean. But Davis, who was excellent throughout the second half, recovered well.
Oral Roberts’ coach Paul Mills, too. He summoned his team during the time limit and made a super move off the field. Some smart selection action freed Abmas from a double team and caused the ball to run towards the hoop. Abmas, who played every minute of six postseason games, created space for himself and became a beautiful appearance, “exactly” as Mills designed it. Mills thought it was in fashion.
“When he left my hands, I felt good,” said Abmas.
“And it ended up getting short.”
Oral Roberts Race
About a month ago, Oral Roberts was an afterthought of the NCAA tournament. It was 11-10 overall and 0-5 against Division I teams outside their conference. He finished fourth in the Summit League of nine teams.
The Golden Eagles narrowly defeated the states of South Dakota and North Dakota in the conference tournament to win an automatic offer from March Madness. But few noticed. More than 98% of Yahoo users chose Oral Roberts to lose in the first round to second place at Ohio State.
Instead, the unsanctified underdogs surprised the Buckeyes. Two days later, they returned to defeat Florida’s No. 7 ranking. Mills said he received emails, letters, text messages from around the world.
The Gold Eagles were only the second place in the 15th place to win a game in the second round. The first, the 2013 Florida Gulf Coast “Dunk City” squad, succumbed to Florida’s third in Sweet 16 that year. Oral Roberts came much closer on Saturday night for a notable third win. But his tournament, and his longer-than-expected statistic in Indianapolis, ended in a distressing fashion.
“Something I will remember for the rest of my life,” said Abmas after the game.
“I will try to say this without crying, but it is my favorite team of all time,” said Mills as his voice grew weak. “They mean a lot to me.”
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