PISCATAWAY, N.J.—The Rutgers’ Athletic Center– now known as Jersey Mike’s Arena—stirred back to life last night. And the sellout crowd that showed up to watch the Scarlet Knights’ s game against top-ranked Purdue was loud and proud.
Rutgers went from a flu infected team that was 4-4 and suffered last second losses to DePaul, UMass and Lafayette to the lead story on Sports Center when it stunned the previous unbeaten Boilermakers, 70-68, when Ron Harper Jr. made a buzzer beating three- point bomb from just inside half court, igniting a court storming from delirious undergrads.
This was the first time Rutgers had beaten a No. 1 team and was the biggest upset in program history.
“The basketball Gods blessed us tonight after some last second losses,’’ Harper said. “That’s like a dream. Honestly, if I woke up and I was in my bed after that, I wouldn’t have been surprised. That was crazy. When that shot went in, I found myself jumping up and down like a little kid on Christmas.’’
Harper finished with 30 points on 10 of 15 shooting with 5 of 7 threes despite seeing numerous double teams. He also finished with 10 rebounds as the Knights survived their Big Ten battle against a team with two towering centers– 7-4, 295-pound sophomore Zach Edey and a 6-10, 255-pound senior All Big Ten selection Trevion Williams and had been the nation’s most efficient offense.
Harper, a 6-6 senior forward and the son of former NBA star Ron Harper, was the hero of the night. Not once but twice in the last 13.1 seconds, making a fade away jump shot to give the Knights a 67-66 lead for the first time since early in the second half. Then after Purdue’s 6-10 center Trevion Williams scored on a layup to give the Boilers back the lead with 3.4 seconds left, Harper blew down the court and launched his miracle three from the Big R.
“I huddled these guys up before their final possession and I’m like, ‘God forbid they score, give me the ball, and I’m going to send that home,’’ Harper said. “Forward Mawot (Mag) found me quickly and I was able to cut up the court in like three second and threw one up.’’
Rutgers won despite the fact several players were sick this week with what Pikiell described as the flu, including senior captain and point guard Geo Baker, who was set to return from a hamstring injury after missing four games. “Geo practiced yesterday,’’ Pikiell said. “He got the flu this morning and couldn’t play.’’
Williams had 21 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for Purdue (8-1, 1-1 Big Ten), which was a unanimous No. 1 in this week’s AP Top 25, the program’s first time atop the poll. Its stay will be brief.
We just kept hanging around, fighting,” Rutgers’ coach Steve Pikiell said. “It didn’t look like it was going our way a few times and they just stayed the course and made big plays and made big stops.”
Purdue had a 10-point lead with 8 minutes left before Rutgers began chipping away. Caleb McConnell made a turnaround jumper in the paint to get Rutgers within 65-63 with 2:07 remaining, and Mag pulled Rutgers within one on a dunk off a pass from Harper with 1:05 left.
McConnell had 12 points, five rebounds, and five assists for Rutgers, and Mag also scored 12 points. Jaden Ivey scored 15 points for Purdue, which has lost four straight games to Rutgers.
The Knights (5-4, 1-1) generated one of their best defensive efforts of the season in the first half, holding a Purdue team that averaged 90 points a game to a modest 35 points. They limited the Boilers to just 25 of 61 shooting and 7 of 25 on three- point attempts, holding Purdue to just 11 points in the final eight minutes.
“Gene Keady, my coach at Purdue, once told me when you go on the road, you got to 10 points better than somebody because if you allow it to be crazy, crazy things can happen,’’ Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Obviously, it was a once-in-a-lifetime shot, but we allowed it to be close.’’
These are crazy days in college basketball. We have already gone through three straight weeks with new No. 1s—Gonzaga, Duke and Purdue. Next up unbeaten, second ranked defending national champion Baylor if the Bears defeat Villanova Sunday in Waco.
But nothing will have the drama of the final moments of Rutgers-Purdue. “That’s a national championship team,’’ Pikiell said. “But I keep telling you, I like this team. We’re a couple plays away from being where I want us to be. I’ll stand up for my guys.’’
It doesn’t get any easier for the Knights, who pla bitter in state rival Seton Hall at the Rock in Newark this weekend and then play Michigan at home as the brutal Big Ten gauntlet continues. But this was a huge shot in the arm.
