Oral Roberts not satisfied with Sweet 16 run
FAYETTEVILLE — Oral Roberts is the lowest-seeded team left in the NCAA Tournament at No. 15, but the Golden Eagles are feeling confident going into their Sweet 16 matchup against the University of Arkansas on Saturday night in Indianapolis.
“We came here to win games,” Golden Eagles sophomore guard Max Abmas said. “We go into every game confident just because we know the work we’ve put in all season.”
Oral Roberts (18-10) has won seven consecutive games, including three to win the Summit League Tournament title and earn an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
Since getting to Indianapolis, the Golden
Eagles have beaten No. 2 seed Ohio State 75-72 in overtime and No. 7 seed Florida 81-78.
“They were terrific,” Gators Coach Mike White said. “What a story.”
Oral Roberts has won its first NCAA Tournament games since 1974, when it beat Syracuse 86-82 in overtime and Louisville 96-93 before losing to Kansas 93-90 in overtime in an Elite Eight matchup.
“We’re just a resilient team, very gritty team,” Oral Roberts junior forward Kevin Obanor said. “We have a lot of dogs on our team.
“We’re not just satisfied with the bare minimum. We don’t let people put a number behind our school and just let them tell us that we can’t do this and that.
“That’s not what gritty people do. We are going to prove people wrong, and we just have that mindset.”
The Golden Eagles shot 45.6% (26 of 57) from the field against Florida, with Obanor hitting 9 of 16 and Abmas 6 of 14. Abmas hit 12 of 12 free throws.
“They move the ball very well,” Gators guard Tre Mann said. “They’ve got two elite scorers on their team, and everybody is able to knock down shots.
“When you’re playing a team like that, it’s hard. It’s hard to defend, and they did a good job.”
Each of the Golden Eagles’ past four victories has been by three or fewer points. They beat South Dakota State in the Summit League Tournament semifinals 90-88 and North Dakota State 75-72 in the championship game.
“I would tell you when I go back and look at those games, what I saw was a team that loved each other,” Oral Roberts coach Paul Mills said. “I tell our guys often, it’s our job as coaches to love you. It’s your job as players to love each other.
“That level of love and resiliency was what I saw exhibited over the course of the entire year, but it obviously was on display in both of those games. The expectation is that you come in, you’re prepared, and that you do the things necessary in order to win a game.”
Abmas [pronounced ACE-muss] and Obanor are the nation’s highest-scoring duo, averaging a combined 43.5 points per game. Abmas
is averaging 24.5 points to lead the nation and Obanor is averaging 19.0.
“Abmas and Obanor, I said it coming into the game, they're as good a one-two punch offensively as anyone we'll play all year,” White said. “I think they have to be in the conversations nationally for just how elite they are.
“Obanor has just got a unique ability to create a little space and get his shot off. Abmas is just phenomenal with his speed, and you crowd him too much, and you want to take away that three, and it's a layup or a drive-and-kick or a foul.”
Abmas and Obanor both played all 85 minutes of the Ohio State and Florida games. Obanor scored 30 points against Ohio State and 28 against Florida. Abmas scored 29 and 26.
“Throughout the season, I think a lot of the attention has been on me and Kevin, but the other guys in the locker room deserve a lot of credit, too,” Abmas said. “Especially with the way we've been playing lately. It's a team effort. It's not just a two-man game.”
The Golden Eagles are the nation's leading free-throw shooting team at 82.2% and are hitting 38.5% of their 3-pointers.
“I'd encourage people who don't know much about the Summit League to go back and look at the last decade,” Mills said. “The league is No. 1 in three-point field-goal percentage, No. 1 in two-point field-goal percentage, No. 1 in free-throw percentage, No. 1 in offensive efficiency, No. 1 in effective field-goal percentage.
“Out of the 32 conferences. It's a really skilled basketball league.”
Mills said the Summit League schedule and nonconference games against Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Wichita State — all NCAA Tournament teams — helped prepare the Golden Eagles for the run they're on now.
Oral Roberts was 0-5 against those NCAA Tournament teams, but played well in some road games in losing to Arkansas 87-76, Wichita State 85-80 and Oklahoma State 83-78.
“We've either played the thirdor fourth-toughest nonconference schedule in the country per Ken Pomeroy depending on what day you look at it,” Mills said of the college basketball analytics website. “You lose by five to Oklahoma State, you lose by five at Wichita State. You're up 12 at Arkansas in the second half and you squander a lead.
“So we knew, when you go back and watch that film, here are the possessions that need to get cleaned up in order to be on the right side of these games. Those things prepared us well for what we're currently experiencing.”