Oral Roberts, a 16-point underdog, shook up No. 2 Ohio State and nearly 95 percent of the brackets in ESPN’s Men’s Tournament Challenge with Friday’s 75-72 overtime victory.
As Oral Roberts head coach Paul Mills prepared his players for overtime Friday against Ohio State, a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament and the Big Ten tournament runner-up, he had one message for them. «We’re winning this,» he said. Mills said he preached confidence to the 15-seed Golden Eagles, who beat the Buckeyes 75-72 for their first NCAA tournament win since 1974, when they were actually known as the Titans. Few expected an Oral Roberts victory. In ESPN’s Men’s Tournament Challenge, more than 95 percent of the brackets (nearly 14 million) picked the Buckeyes, who were a 16-point favorite. It was the biggest upset since UMBC’s first-round victory over top-seed Virginia in 2018 as a plus-20.5 underdog and the eighth-biggest since 1985. The loss punctuated a season of turbulence for an Ohio State team that had positioned itself to compete for a No.1 seed at one point in the season.
