Oral Roberts has already ended a game with big smiles and a big trophy this season, but there was a point in November you could be forgiven for thinking that sort of scene just may not be in the cards 2021-22.
 
The Golden Eagles did not have a fun trip to Conway, Ark. just before Thanksgiving. Max Abmas was improbably cold from the field, struggling through one of his toughest college outings as ORU lost a three-point game to a Central Arkansas team they surely expected to beat. Following a 29-point opening night loss to a very good Colorado State team, the then 2-2 Golden Eagles were in a spot much different than the buoyancy they’d experienced during their Sweet 16 run last March. 
 
Nonetheless, there they were nine days later, with Abmas lifting the Mayor’s Cup and very much back in character after scoring 38 points in a win over Tulsa. That win has been part of a resurgent three weeks that have flashed the Golden Eagles potential to grow into a Summit League threat yet again.
 
The win over the Golden Hurricane snapped a four-game losing streak to their crosstown rival and, as importantly, may have been the 2021-22 continuation of what made ORU so dangerous at the end of last season. DJ Weaver and Francis Lacis both hit three’s in a tight final three minutes, and Abmas sank eight free throws in the last minute to clinch the win. In short, it was the sort of closing time DNA that propelled the team to four-straight single possession, elimination game wins beginning in last year’s Summit League Tournament. 
 
The star junior guard summed it up to the Tulsa World after the game. 
 
“We just understand that last minute is winning time,” Abmas said. “We’re going to go out there and do whatever it takes to win.”
 
Three days earlier, ORU had come up just short as it hosted Oklahoma State in the renovated Mabee Center for the first time since 1996. The overtime loss to the Cowboys, and a competitive loss at TCU on Dec. 2, still contained plenty of positive signs for a program not only dealing with recalibrated expectations and pressure, but also life without Kevin Obanor.
 
Trying to replace the frontcourt sharpshooter one-for-one is a tall task, but Weaver (10.8 ppg, 39.5 3P%) has had a good season in a similar role, and was relied upon heavily in the Tulsa and OSU games. Similarly, Lacis (7.4 ppg. 7.1, 37.8 3P%) has again provided the floor spacing from the frontcourt that has helped make Paul Mills’ offenses fly the past three seasons. 
 
The scoring punch, unsurprisingly, has yet again revolved around Abmas. The junior guard has rebounded from that off night against UCA, which was the first time he’d been held to single digits (8 points, 3-18 FG) in a game he wasn’t purposefully rested since March 2020. He’s averaged 25.6 points in the five games since and, on the season, has been as potent and rangeless as ever from three, helping fuel another offense with the Mills hallmarks: knock-down three-point shooting and few turnovers.
 
Abmas himself is also approaching more rarified air, as his current pace would make him just the 33rd player since 1992 to post multiple seasons scoring at least 20 points per game and shooting at least 40 percent from three. That list includes names you would expect, from one of his idols (Steph Curry) to a Hall of Famer (Ray Allen) to another recent Summit League standout (Mike Daum).
 
It’s those that weren’t around for the Sweet 16 run, however, that could add a different dimension to this version of the Golden Eagles.
 
Vanderbilt transfer Isaac McBride (10.6 ppg) and Oklahoma transfer Trey Phipps (9.7 ppg) have both, in limited opportunities, shown the potential to spell Abmas, and be the type of dangerous pick and roll ball handlers the team didn’t really have outside of Abmas last year after RJ Glasper was injured. On the inside, redshirt senior Elijah Lufile is coming off a dominant effort in a win over Houston Baptist (13 points, 11 rebounds) and has added a physicality and rebounding presence after missing last year due to injury. 
 
All together, the slightly retooled Golden Eagles seem to be picking up steam on their quest to lift more than just the Mayor’s Cup in this sequel of a season.

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