March Madness is all about the underdog. One game, win or go home, with the underdog having absolutely nothing to lose. In the first round of the tournament, there were 10 upsets, though none was bigger than 15-seed Oral Roberts University taking down two-seed Ohio State. Their Cinderella Run continued on until the Sweet Sixteen. After falling one shot away from an Elite Eight appearance, let’s take a look at how underdog Oral Roberts shocked the world and became the second 15-seed to ever make the Sweet Sixteen.
Oral Roberts (16-10) was a dominant offensive team all season. Led by the No. 1 scorer in the nation, sophomore guard Max Abmas (24.6 PPG) and junior forward Kevin Obanor (18.7 PPG), the Golden Eagles were 14th in points per game (81.1), second in three-point shots made (323) and first in free-throw percentage (82.1%). As a team, 47% of their shots came from behind the arc — an unreal amount. Oral Roberts lived and died by the three-ball.
Going into their matchup with Ohio State (21-9), the odds weren’t in Oral Roberts favor, as odds makers had Ohio State as a 15-point favorite. Throughout the game, many expected Ohio State’s talent to help them break away. As regulation ended in a tie, the game went into overtime. After OT, the Golden Eagles came out on top by a score of 75-72. The team was led by Obanor and Abmas, who combined for 59 points. They hit 10 three-pointers as a duo while Ohio State had five three-pointers as a team. ORU became the ninth 15-seed to upset a two-seed, with the 15-seed having an all-time record of 8-132 before the Golden Eagles’ upset. This was just the beginning.
The Golden Eagles had already shocked the world by taking down Ohio State, but a new competitor awaited in seven-seeded University of Florida (15-9) with a Sweet Sixteen berth on the line. With Obanor and Abmas dominating another game, combining for 54 points, ORU took down UF by a slim margin of 3 points (81-78). Of the eight 15-seeds that advanced to the second round in NCAA history, all but one had lost (Florida Gulf Coast in 2013). With this win, history was made. ORU became the second 15-seed to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
The University of Arkansas Razorbacks (24-6), the three-seed, awaited them in the Sweet Sixteen. The matchup wasn’t the best for ORU, as they lacked rebounding and paint presence while Arkansas excelled in the paint and on the boards. It was going to take a huge game from Abmas and Obanor for ORU to become the first 15-seed to make the Elite Eight.
The Golden Eagles fell to the Razorbacks by a score of 72-70. It was a hard-fought game from ORU, but Arkansas just proved to be too strong in the rebound game, grabbing 18 offensive rebounds as a team. Additionally, 56 of their 72 points were scored inside the three-point line. The short-handed Golden Eagles just couldn’t hang with Arkansas’ size. With Arkansas taking the lead with just 3.1 seconds remaining, ORU had just enough time to get a shooter open. As the clock ran out, Abmas put up a would-be game-winning fadeaway three-point shot from the right wing that just missed. A heartbreaker for the team and all that were rooting for them. Though they lost, they still put themselves and the underdog mentality on the map.
This is what March Madness is all about. These guys didn’t have the Power-Five recruiters at their doorstep like their competition did. These players that the recruiters overlooked finally get a chance to show themselves on the biggest stage. Most of us know what it’s like to feel like the underdog, to feel undetected, whether it’s athletically or just in general. Abmas and Obanor were unranked coming out of high school, yet they were unstoppable through the first two rounds against some of the best programs in the country. This just shows that no matter what happens, never stop working. Your time could come at any moment. The underdog is why March is the greatest month of all time in collegiate sports, and they are sure to be more in the coming years.
