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Wayne Staats | krikya18.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.

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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.

🤩 2025 TOURNAMENT:  | See bracket | Scores
🏆 HISTORY: Title winners | MOP winners | Most tournament titles
 🎟️ TICKETS:
STORE:

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Division I
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April 4 & 6, 2026
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