Oral Roberts Could Not Have Come Any Closer To Knocking Off Arkansas And Continuing Its Magical Run

Cinderella’s slipper finally slipped off on Saturday night. The No. 15 Oral Roberts Golden Eagles came mere inches away from knocking off the No. 3 Arkansas Razorbacks in the Sweet 16, but Max Abmas’ prayer at the buzzer was not answered, and as a result, Arkansas will keep on dancing thanks to a 72-70 win.

With 32 seconds remaining, Oral Roberts big man Francis Lacis hit one of two free throws to tie things up at 70. On the ensuing Razorbacks possession, Jalen Tate burrowed his way into the paint, dumping a pass off to Davonte Davis for a midrange jumper to go up by two.

They didn’t quite take as much time as they could off the clock, though, and with 3.1 seconds left, the Golden Eagles went for the win. Abmas, the team’s sensational shot-making guard was able to receive the inbound pass and race up the floor despite being smothered by a pair of opponents. Somehow, he gave himself just enough space to pull up from deep, and it looked perfect, right up until it bounced off the rim and fell to the floor.

Oral Roberts was shooting to become the first 15-seed to ever make the Elite 8, and they could not have come much closer to making it happen. There will be plenty of looking back on how they could have made one or two things bounce differently — they got hammered on the glass and missed a ton of wide-open threes in the second half — but on the whole, there’s plenty to celebrate about this run. Abmas is a star (this’ll happen any time your name gets put next to Steph Curry’s for NCAA Tournament excellence), big man Kevin Obanor is a handful, and the team is slated to bring almost everyone back, barring defections to the NBA or transfers. They looked prime for another run next year, only if they make it back, we’ll bet they won’t be a 15.