The Oral Roberts Golden Eagles are still dancing, socially distanced.
The Florida Gators are taking their talents back to Gainesville, Florida.
Oral Roberts becomes the second No. 15 seed to reach the second week of the NCAA Tournament.
The Golden Eagles pulled off another surprise Sunday night, reaching the round of 16 with an 81-78 victory over the Gators.
The Golden Eagles fans inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum chanted “Cinderella” during a wild celebration after the victory.
The Gators had control of the game up to the final nine minutes of the game, where it appeared the gas ran out.
Gators were outscored 44-36 in the second half.
Tre Mann led the Gators (15-10) with 19 points but went quite late in the second half, failing to score over the final 17 minutes.
“I just missed shots,” Mann said. “We made the same plays we did in the first half. I got the same shots. I just missed shots. I didn’t get the wide-open looks I was getting.”
Mann most likely will take his talents to the upcoming NBA Draft.
The Gators shot 55%. They outrebounded the smaller Golden Eagles 37-24 and had 42 points in the paint. But Florida committed 20 turnovers and had just three made baskets over the final 9½ minutes.
“Hard-fought game, very tough emotional season for these guys,” Gators head basketball coach Mike White said.
Florida had a chance but failed to get good shots on its final few possessions. The Gators had a pair of turnovers, Noah Locke missed a corner 3-pointer, and, after Kevin Obanor split free throws, difficult 3-point attempts by Tre Mann and Scottie Lewis were offline.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce to you Max Abmas. He is averaging nearly 25 points for the season and almost 30 points for the NCAA tournament.
Kevin Obanor scored 28 points, and Abmas (pronounced ACE-mus), the regular-season national leading scorer, finished with 26 as the Golden Eagles (18-10) closed the game on a 25-11 run to overcome the 11-point lead Florida held with less than 10 minutes remaining.
The beat goes on.
The Golden Eagles faced Arkansas, who is an N0.3 seed in the tournament earlier this season next, losing 87-76 to the Razorbacks on Dec. 20.
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