This year in March Madness there were more official upsets since the start of the NCAA tournament. There were an astounding five upsets in only the first and second round. One of the biggest surprises this year has been the rise of Oral Roberts. 

They shocked everyone and probably broke everyone’s bracket predictions in the first round. Going into the first-round match-up between Ohio State was the clear favorite to win the game. 

Oral Roberts was the 15th seed in the tournament. while Ohio State was the 2nd seed, and as a result, most March Madness fans did not even know who Oral Roberts was. One look at the rosters of both teams, and instantly you can see the difference 

Ohio State’s bench was very good, and this is one reason why they became the number 2 seed. The team played great together, and everyone on the team contributed. Oral Roberts, being the smaller college, does not get much recruitment attention, but this year they found two diamonds in the rough. 

Their two, star players Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor are the two key factors to the win over Ohio State and allowed them to step it up this game in a big way.

Oral Roberts came into this game on fire as they started the game off with a 7-0 run in the first couple minutes of the game. However, they could not keep the lead for long. Ohio State was looked at as the much better team, but halfway through the first half, it was obvious Oral Robert’s two stars were going to be a problem in this game. 

Going into the end of the second half they already had half their team’s points. At this point, Oral Roberts shooting ability was keeping them in this game, and thus drove them into halftime with a three-point lead.

Coming out of halftime you could see Ohio State was furious that they were not blowing this team out as they should have, but Oral Roberts’s Kevin Obanor was not planning on losing this. He already had one three-pointer in the first half and was looking to double that with two other daggers that gave them a bigger lead; however, Ohio State answered him with a layup and a three-pointer of their own. 

Oral Roberts was not gonna let that happen. They kept the lead and were not going to let Ohio State have it. With seven minutes left in the first half, Ohio State took the lead for the first time in the game. They ran with it and were not going to let Oral Roberts take it back. With one minute left in the game, Oral Roberts was only down by two points but it was Ohio State’s poor defense and fouls that led to Obanor’s free throws to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Going into overtime Oral Roberts started off with the lead. At this point, it was going to be a free throw competition. Both teams were driving in, so they could draw a foul. This is when it started looking bad for Ohio State. 

Even though they were a good team. They did not shoot well from the free-throw line. This is when Oral knew they could win this game if they just hit their free throws. Just like that Oral Roberts made two free throws coming from Obanor to win the game. Oral Roberts had done it. 

The fans could see the pure happiness on their faces as they celebrated the crazy upset they had just pulled off. They knew they had a chance and that’s all they needed. For the first time in so long.