Oral Roberts welcomed the madness back to March.
The 15th-seeded Golden Eagles pulled off the first major upset of the first NCAA tournament in two years, holding off second-seeded Big Ten power Ohio State 75-72 in overtime on Friday.
The tiny evangelical school from Tulsa (enrollment: 3,462) got poised, impeccable performances from its two star players, guard Max Abmas and forward Kevin Obanor, to become the ninth No 15 seed to win a first-round game and the first since Middle Tennessee shocked Michigan State in 2016. Last year’s tournament was called off because of the pandemic.
Obanor scored seven of Oral Roberts’ 11 points in overtime, including two free throws with 13 seconds left, and finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Abmas scored 29 points.
CINDERELLA CELEBRATES!@ORUMBB | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/E5JKeHtkm6
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 19, 2021
Ohio State could have tied it in the closing seconds of overtime, but Duane Washington Jr’s open three-pointer from straight away bounced off the side of the rim, and Oral Roberts celebrated its first tournament win since 1974.
Oral Roberts join Richmond (1991), Santa Clara (1993), Coppin State (1997), Hampton (2001), Norfolk State (2012), Lehigh (2012), Florida Gulf Coast (2013) and Middle Tennessee (2016) as the only No 15 seeds to win their opening tournament games.
The Golden Eagles advanced to a Sunday meeting with seventh-seeded Florida, who earlier Friday reached the second round for an eighth straight NCAA tournament appearance and with arguably its best player on the bench as a de facto assistant coach.
Colin Castleton scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Tre Mann hit a step-back three-pointer with 23 seconds left in overtime and the seventh-seeded Gators held off No 10 seed Virginia Tech 75-70 in a first-round game on Friday.
Florida was cheered on by Keyontae Johnson, who has supported and inspired his teammates from the bench since his return from a scary medical episode. Johnson collapsed on the court during a game in December and was hospitalized, forcing him to sit out the rest of the season.
The day’s second big upset came when 12th-seeded Oregon State defeated No 5 Tennessee 70-56 in the Midwest Region.
Roman Silva scored 16 and Ethan Thompson 13 with 10 rebounds to lead the Beavers. Keon Johnson had 14 points and six rebounds for the Vols.
Oregon State became the first Pac-10/12 school to win the conference tournament after being picked to finish last and is now the 51st No 12 to take down a No 5 since the bracket expanded in 1985.
Mann’s second big three-pointer gave the Gators a 74-70 lead and proved enough after Cordell Pemsel’s missed jumper with 10 seconds left.
The third big surprise came in evening when 13th-seeded North Texas worked overtime to score a 78-69 win over No 4 Purdue.
Javion Hamlet scored 24 points and Thomas Bell had 16, along with some game-changing defense in overtime, to lift the underdog Mean Green to the second teen-powered upset of the Big Ten on opening day.
What a great prize for Hamlet and Bell, a pair of seniors who led the Mean Green (18-9) to a regular-season Conference USA title last year but missed a chance at the tournament when the season was canceled by Covid-19.
In other early action, No 3 Arkansas won 85-68 over No 14 Colgate while top-seeded Illinois rolled to a 78-49 victory over No 16 Drexel, who were making their NCAA tournament return after a 25-year absence.
Elsewhere, Utah State’s Neemias Queta made history in a lopsided loss to Texas Tech.
Queta became the second player in the NCAA tournament since blocks became a recognized stat to finish with at least 10 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five blocks in a game.
He had 11 points, 13 boards, six assists and seven blocks in a 65-53 loss to the Red Raiders. The other player to accomplish the feat was Baylor’s Ekpe Udoh in 2010.
Players from several teams took a knee during the playing of the national anthem before their first-round games.
Most of players on 16th-seeded Drexel knelt for the anthem before the Dragons tipped off at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum, and several Colgate players did the same at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
A few players also took a knee during the anthem before the Florida-Virginia Tech start at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
College athletes have not been shy about showing public support for social causes and even pushing back against perceived inequities by the NCAA. Earlier this week, several prominent men’s players got the hashtag #NotNCAAProperty trending to protest NCAA rules that ban athletes from earning money off their names, images and likenesses.
At the women’s tournament in San Antonio, players have pointed out how workout facilities have been far from equal to what has been provided to the men’s players.
In Friday’s other games:
No 10 Rutgers 60, No 7 Clemson 56
Geo Baker spent part of this week using his voice to raise awareness about inequities in college sports.
He’ll get to use his platform for a couple more days after helping Rutgers to its first NCAA tournament victory in 38 years.
Baker scored 13 points, including the decisive layup with 10 seconds left, and the 10th-seeded Scarlet Knights toppled No 7 seed Clemson 60-56 on Friday night in the Midwest Region.
Rutgers (16-11) were last selected for the NCAAs in 1991, an appearance that ended with a first-round loss to Arizona State. The Scarlet Knights’ last victory in the tournament came in 1983 against a school that’s since changed its name from Southwest Louisiana to just Louisiana.
No 9 Wisconsin 85, No 8 North Carolina 62
North Carolina coach Roy Williams lost his first opening-round NCAA tournament game in 30 tries as ninth-seeded Wisconsin blew out his eighth-seeded Tar Heels 85-62 on Friday night.
Brad Davison scored 29 points for the Badgers, who negated North Carolina’s size advantage by draining 13 of 27 three-pointers. The Badgers (18-12) had lost four of five entering the tournament.
Davison made 5 of 7 three-pointers and 10 of 15 shots overall. D’Mitrik Trice scored 21 points for Wisconsin, which advanced to play the South Region’s top seed, Baylor, on Sunday.
No 4 Oklahoma State 69, No 13 Liberty 60
Cade Cunningham vowed to lead Oklahoma State to a strong run through the tournament. The freshman All-American didn’t have an explosive debut, but did just enough to lead the Cowboys to a 69-60 victory over Liberty.
Cunningham scored 15 points – nine straight in the final minutes – to lead No 4 seed Oklahoma State to its first NCAA tournament win since 2009. Avery Anderson III led the Cowboys with 21 points.
Cunningham before the tournament began said he planned to emulate Carmelo Anthony, who in 2003 led Syracuse to the national title as a freshman. But the Big 12 Conference player of the year struggled for most his debut until his late surge gave OSU (21-8) breathing room against the stubborn Flames (23-6).
Anderson picked up the offensive slack for Oklahoma State and scored 14 points in the first half. He shot 8 of 14, including a three-point play with 10:25 remaining for a 50-44 lead, and grabbed seven rebounds.
No 2 Houston 87, No 15 Cleveland State 56
Quentin Grimes scored 18 points and Houston coach Kelvin Sampson tied John Wooden on the career victories list as the Cougars beat 15th-seeded Cleveland State 87-56 on Friday night.
Sampson earned his 664th win, No 38 all-time, in his first game at Assembly Hall since resigning as Indiana’s coach in February 2008.
No 2-seed Houston has won eight straight and will face seventh-seeded Clemson or 10th-seeded Rutgers in the Midwest Region’s second round on Sunday. It’s unclear if starting guard DeJon Jarreau will be available after he missed all but 41 seconds with what appeared to be a right hip injury.
No 11 Syracuse 78, No 6 San Diego State 62
The decades-old zone defense of Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim claimed another frustrated victim Friday night.
One of the best three-point shooting teams in the country, too.
The No 11 seed Orange held sixth-seeded San Diego State without a field goal for nearly a quarter of the game, sweet-shooting Buddy Boeheim hit seven three-pointers and finished with 30 points, and Syracuse cruised to a 78-62 victory inside Hinkle Fieldhouse and into the second round.
Boeheim finished 7 of 10 from beyond the arc and 11 of 15 from the field, and Marek Dolezaj added 11 points, as Syracuse (17-9) advanced to play third-seeded West Virginia or No 14 seed Morehead State for a spot in the Sweet 16.
No 5 Villanova 73, No 12 Winthrop 63
Villanova found a way to advance without Collin Gillespie.
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and the fifth-seeded Wildcats pulled away in the second half for a 73-63 victory over 12th-seeded Winthrop in the South Region on Friday night.
Villanova (17-6) had lost both games since senior point guard and Big East co-player of the year Gillespie tore a ligament in his left knee during the Wildcats’ victory over then-No 14 Creighton on 3 March. That made Winthrop, which came in with just one loss this season, a popular upset pick.
But Robinson-Earl delivered when the Wildcats needed him, making four free throws that launched a 9-0 run to give Villanova their biggest lead at 60-47. The Wildcats will face 13th-seeded North Texas in the second round on Sunday.
No 3 West Virginia 84, No 14 Morehead State 67
Miles McBride scored 18 of his 30 points after halftime to help West Virginia pull away and beat Morehead State 84-67 on Friday night, giving coach Bob Huggins his 900th career victory.
McBride was terrific from the start and provided a steady offensive hand all night for the third-seeded Mountaineers (19-9) in the Midwest Regional matchup. The 6ft 2in sophomore made his first five shots and finished 11 for 17 from the floor with six rebounds and six assists, sending West Virginia on to face No 11 seed Syracuse.
The Mountaineers needed that big night, too, with No 2 scorer Derek Culver struggling offensively until deep into the game. West Virginia also struggled to consistently get stops against the hot-shooting Eagles (23-8), who had far less trouble putting the ball in the net than they did protecting it.
Morehead State shot 52% and made 10 of 19 three-pointers. But the Ohio Valley Conference champion Eagles came into the game averaging a 22.9% turnover rate to rank near the bottom of KenPom’s national stats, then committed 18 on Friday night that the Mountaineers converted into 24 points.
DeVon Cooper scored 21 points to lead the 14th-seeded Eagles, who were making their first tournament appearance in a decade.
