INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — Historically, the Sweet 16 is where Cinderella Stories end in March. Only 6 teams seeded 9-16 have ever made the Final Four; For 15 seeds, Oral Roberts (18-11) has matched the furthest run any has made in the tournament. Making the Elite Eight as a 15-seed has never been accomplished.
In order to make history, they would have to grab their 3rd upset in a row; this time, they would have to overcome a hot Arkansas squad (25-6). Early, it seemed they had the firepower to do just that. Led by the nation’s leading scorer, Max Abmas, they jumped out to a 12-point lead as their offense was clicking.
However, Arkansas would not go away. After trailing by 7 at the half, the Razorbacks flipped the script in the second half. Down the stretch, they turned to Jalen Tate, who came up clutch; he scored 10 of his team-leading 22 points in the final 5 minutes and 35 seconds.
With the game tied at 70, Arkansas forward Davonte Davis hit a jumper with 4 seconds left. With one last shot, Abmas took the inbound pass coast-to-coast for a decent look a three but was just off. Arkansas secured their first Elite Eight appearance since 1995, winning 72-70.
“Really proud of our team, especially in the second half, with their effort. We’ve been down now in three games and found a way to come back. Regrouped again at halftime, changed up our defense a little bit more, where we wanted to trap and lead certain players,” said Arkansas coach Eric Musselman.
Arkansas overcomes third straight double-digit deficit
Even as a 3-seed, Arkansas has been used to climbing back in games in this tournament. In the first-round matchup, 14-seed Colgate led by as many as 14 before Arkansas won by double-digits. Against Texas Tech, the Red Raiders led by 10 before Arkansas came back again, winning by 2.
On Saturday, they squeaked out the win despite a lackluster shooting performance. Arkansas shot just 37.7% from the field and hit just 1 three-pointer on 9 attempts. In the second half, the defensive effort ramped up, helping overcome the Oral Roberts lead. Arkansas forced 13 turnovers on 7 steals.
“Certainly, we’d all like to get out to a lead, but at the end of the day, there’s going to be runs. Right now we’ve been a really, really good second-half team all year, and you’ve got to be able to make adjustments at halftime. We basically resorted to our plan D coverage. I’m just glad we had a full week to go through multiple coverages. Now, that won’t be the case heading into the next game on Monday,” said coach Musselman.
Up Next
No. 1 Baylor vs. No. 3 Arkansas, Monday, March 30, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
