basketball-men-d1 flag

Wayne Staats | NCAA.com | March 19, 2021

7 numbers from No. 15 Oral Roberts' shocking upset of No. 2 Ohio State

These are the most popular bracket picks — and how they performed

Oral Roberts busted brackets and joined the exclusive list of No. 15 seed shockers.

No. 15 Oral Roberts provided the first huge NCAA tournament upset this year, as the Golden Eagles stunned No. 2 Ohio State, 75-72, in overtime.

Here are 7 numbers to put the upset into perspective:

4.25 percent — Less than 5 percent of BCG users correctly predicted Oral Roberts to beat Ohio State. In fact, almost as many players had Ohio State winning the title (3.28 percent) than had ORU winning this one game.

1960 — Ohio State and Jerry Lucas won the national title this year, topping California in the final. This was three years before ORU was founded.

24.2 — Oral Roberts star Max Abmas leads the nation in scoring with 24.2 points per game.

1974 — That's the last time Oral Roberts won a game in the NCAA tournament. Using the Titans nickname then, Oral Roberts beat Syracuse 86-82 in overtime and Louisville 96-93 before losing to Kansas in the regional final, 93-90 in OT. The loss came on Oral Roberts' home floor.

PERFECTION: We're tracking perfect brackets in the 2021 NCAA tournament

59 — Abmas and Kevin Obanor combined for 59 of ORU's 75 points. Obanor led with 30, with Abmas hitting 29. They each had five 3-pointers.

43.3 percent — Ohio State shot better than Oral Roberts, 43.3 percent to 35.7 percent. But the Golden Eagles made 11 3-pointers, which was six more than Ohio State.

9 — This is the ninth time a No. 15 seed has defeated a No. 2 seed. Middle Tennessee was the last to do so before the Golden Eagles, beating Michigan State in 2016. Richmond was the first, as the Spiders beat Syracuse in 1991.

Nobody's safe after an upset-filled weekend in men's basketball

If the past weekend showed anything in college basketball, it’s that nobody is safe.
READ MORE

Arizona leads first men's basketball Power 36 of December

NCAA Digital's Andy Katz delivers a fresh set of Power 36 rankings after an upset-filled weekend. He also previews the new week's action with a ranking of the best games of the week.
READ MORE

Breakout first half shooting by Max Klesmit lifts Wisconsin over No. 3 Marquette

Wisconsin did not let No. 3 Marquette take the lead throughout regulation, led by Max Klesmit's 21 points for a massive 76-64 win over the top-3 team.
READ MORE

Subscribe To Email Updates

Enter your information to receive emails about offers, promotions from NCAA.com and our partners