Most of the Summit League stormed through Omaha this season, and Oral Roberts was no different on Thursday night. Well, to say the Golden Eagles blitzed their way through Omaha is misleading.
Much like South Dakota, ORU managed to make it out of Omaha with a win. Last night's final: 81-78.
It's a game that good teams win, plain and simple. If ORU loses to Omaha, frankly, it's a horrendous loss.
But credit to the Golden Eagles for avoiding the pitfall.
Couple things: ORU matches up really well with Omaha, and Omaha's style of play — we'll call it the no-defense style suits ORU well. Omaha likes to get up and down the floor quickly, and the Golden Eagles have a lot of players that would probably like to play like that all the time.—
ORU tends to get stagnant when it slows down the pace, so playing a team like Omaha keeps the Golden Eagles full of energy throughout the game.
(Credit to Geoff Haxton for pointing that out during last night's broadcast.) For some reason, ORU can't kick itself into gear unless it picks up the pace on both ends.
Finally, ORU would love to see Omaha in Sioux Falls at the Summit League tournament. But Omaha isn't eligible for the tournament since it's still transitioning to Division I. ORU will have to wait until next year to face its favorite opponent.
The good: It was Korey Billbury's turn to have some fun against Omaha at the Mabee Center earlier this season, so Obi Emegano took his turn on Thursday night. The junior guard from Edmond had 28 points, four rebounds, three steals, and he also went 7 of 13 from the field and 13 of 19 from the free throw line. Aside from wanting a better performance at the foul line, that's your prototypical Emegano game — plenty of points, some steals, getting to the foul line and making close to 50 percent from the field.
- Denell Henderson — ignore going 4 of 13 from the field — bounced back from his late-arriving, doghouse-finding game Saturday and had 11 points and eight rebounds against Omaha. He included three blocks and a shutdown effort of Omaha's Mike Rostampour, who had zero points and only four rebounds.
Again, those are the Henderson performances the team is looking for every game.
- Billbury's shooting touch is off-kilter right now, but he manged to score 14 points, along with 10 rebounds and four steals. And underrated part of Billbury's game is his knack to get involved in other areas, even if he's not scoring.
- Darian Harris had eight rebounds. Golden Eagles have to love that.
- ORU made 50 percent (6 of 12) of its 3-point shots. Anything better than 40 percent, you'll take anytime anywhere.
The bad: Emegano's two missed free throws late. ORU played with fire up three with two seconds left.
Emegano missed a pair of freebies, but luckily for him Omaha's Tre'Shawn Thurman missed a trey at the buzzer.
ORU's tendency to miss late free throws has been a killer all year long.
- Golden Eagles had 14 turnovers. Not great, but playing at Omaha's pace can do that sometimes.
- ORU's bench only scored 13 points, led by four apiece from Brandon Conley and Albert Owens. Golden Eagles need more than that from the reserves each night.
(Side note: Owens' four points in five minutes is a silver lining.)
The reality: ORU won a game it HAD TO win. Now the focus shifts to South Dakota State (Saturday) and North Dakota State (Thursday). Those are two good chances for the Golden Eagles to find out where they stand right now.
Add bonus from beating Omaha: ORU will now be the answer to the trivia question, "who won the final game played at Omaha's Ralston Arena?" That's better than being the answer to "who lost the final game played in Omaha's Ralston Arena?" Omaha has to live with that one.
Current Summit League picture...
In contention for a league title
1. South Dakota State (20-8, 13-3) - 2 games left (vs. Oral Roberts; at South Dakota).
2. North Dakota State (19-8, 11-3) - 2 games left (vs. IPFW; at Oral Roberts).
Fighting for third
3. IPFW (15-11, 8-5) - 3 games left (at North Dakota State; vs. Omaha; vs. Western Illinois).
4. Oral Roberts (15-12, 8-5) - 3 games left (at South Dakota State; vs. North Dakota State; vs. Denver).
5. South Dakota (14-14, 7-6) - 3 conference games left (vs. IUPUI; vs. Denver; vs. South Dakota State).
The rest
6. IUPUI (9-18, 5-8)
7. Denver (10-16, 4-9)
8. Western Illinois (8-16, 3-10)
9. Omaha (9-17, 3-11)
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