INDIANAPOLIS: Paul Mills arrived on the day of the laundry.
After spending more than a week in the bubble of the NCAA tournament, Mills and his team Oral Roberts are not leaving town. The Golden Eagles head to the Sweet 16, joining the 2013 Florida Gulf Coast team as the only 15 seeds in tournament history to reach the round of 16.
Oral Roberts cleared an eleven-point deficit in the second half to beat Florida, ranked seventh, 81-78 at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Sunday. The Eagles, who on Friday won their first NCAA tournament game since 1974 for the impressive Ohio State No. 2 league, moved to the Sweet 16 for the first time since that year, when they were named the Titans and tournament only had 25 teams.
“I’m glad we got a chance to wash our clothes,” Mills said in a video call with reporters. “We got here last Saturday. We’re leaving [Monday]. Tomorrow will be a good day because I ran out of clothes. “
His team didn’t run out of opportunities after beating Florida 13-4 in the 4:34 final. Star tandem Kevin Obanor and Max Abmas fed Oral Roberts, combining for 54 points and both playing the 40 minutes, but second-placed DeShang Weaver definitely improved the Golden Eagles with a 2:09 corner triple to play. Florida had two chances to tie in the second finals, but the 3-point attempts by Tre Mann and Scottie Lewis failed.
“DJ Weaver was huge,” Mills said. “We knew they were playing that 1-3-1 [zone], so we put DJ there. I just said to DJ, I said, ‘DJ, you’ll have a chance to win it or you’ll put us down. I need you to drop this 3. ‘
“This guy isn’t scared. He loves DJ Weaver. He’s super resilient, he cares about a team.”
Oral Roberts advances into the southern region to face series leader Arkansas. The teams met Dec. 20 in Fayetteville; the Razorbacks won 87-76 and held Abmas with just 11 points.
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Oral Roberts is the third Summit League team to reach the Sweet 16 and the first since 1998, when Valparaiso lost to Rhode Island by 74-68. Oral Roberts had four consecutive losing seasons to win 17 games in each of Mills ’last two campaigns.
“I wasn’t aware that 1974 was the last [NCAA tournament] win, “Mills said.” Honestly to God, I told the guys all year, “Not only will we win the conference tournament, but we’ll win several games in the NCAA.” We talk about winning in March to November, and a lot of coaches do, in November: “These are the things that have to happen to win in March.”
Mills is excited about the added attention the college will receive this week, but he thinks staying in the NCAA bubble will help focus his team as he heads to an even bigger stage.
“If you’ve seen EJ Liddell’s tweet, these things are so fake,” Mills said. “If they can inspire you with praise, they can ruin your criticism. I’ve really tried to warn our guys that it’s important to get their attention, to be recognized for what they do, but when they have real problems, none of these people are there. around it.You have to recognize it for what it is and you also have to understand the fandom when it’s not going its way.The controlled environment, as the NCAA has said, is fantastic.We can get away from some of those fanfares that are approaching and people drag you in several different directions.
“So 100% help.”
Florida led 42-37 at halftime, shot 55% from the field of play and had four players scoring 14 points or more. But the Gators committed 20 turnovers to just 12 for Oral Roberts. Obanor followed up a 30-point performance against Ohio State by scoring 20 in the second half against Florida.
“I’m very grateful, even with this crazy year of COVID, nothing was promised,” the junior striker said. “The fact that we even had March Madness and won a couple of games, we’re very grateful, very humble, very honest. Florida was a good team. The last time we won a game in the NCAA tournament was in 1974. and now we are at Sweet 16.
“It’s really just amazing.”