What to know about Oral Roberts, Ohio State basketball's NCAA Tournament opponent

Ohio State will play Oral Roberts in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament on Friday. 

The Golden Eagles received an automatic bid to the tournament after winning the Summit League Tournament this year. They were the No. 4 seed in the Summit League and pulled off a miraculous buzz beater against No. 1 seed South Dakota State in the second round.

The Golden Eagles followed that up in the tournament finals on March 9 by beating North Dakota State 75-72. Oral Roberts held on to win the game narrowly. At the half, Oral Roberts lead 45-20 but was outscored 52-30 in the second half. 

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Oral Roberts is 12th in the nation in scoring, averaging 81.8 points per game. That scoring comes from three-point shooting and nailing free throws. 

The Golden Eagles come into the NCAA Tournament leading the country in free throw shooting percentage, averaging 82.35 percent from the line. Oral Roberts shoots a ton of a three-point shots, too. Oral Roberts is ninth in the country attempting 754 threes on the year.

Here are two more things to know about Oral Roberts: 

Oral Roberts' Max Abmas is the top scorer in NCAA basketball

Oral Roberts features the nation’s leading scorer in guard Max Abmas. The sophomore leads the country averaging 24.2 points per game. 

Abmas is shooting 43.3 percent on three-point shots this season and 48.4 percent from the field. 

Abmas topped 40 points twice this season, going for 41 against Western Illinois on Feb. 27 and 42 against South Dakota State on Feb. 13. 

Abmas didn’t just beat up those Summit League opponents. He scored 18 points in Oral Roberts’ season opener against Missouri. He also scored 33 points against Oklahoma State in December.

Where is Oral Roberts located? 

Not very familiar with Oral Roberts University? Don’t worry, it’s not exactly a big school.

Oral Roberts is location in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2020, the enrollment was 4,053 students. By comparison, Ohio State University in 2020 had 67,957 students.

Evangelist Oral Roberts founded the Christian university in 1963. Among the school’s most famous alums are pastor Joel Osteen, television personality Kathie Lee Gifford and former NBA point guard Haywoode Workman.

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