Ron Harper Jr. made a 40-foot 3-pointer as time expired to lift undermanned Rutgers to a shocking 70-68 upset of No. 1 Purdue on Thursday night in Piscataway, N.J.
Harper hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 13.1 seconds left to put Rutgers ahead 67-66, but Trevion Williams’ running bank shot with 3.4 seconds to go gave the Boilermakers a one-point lead. Harper took the inbounds pass, dribbled past midcourt and let fly with a shot that beat the buzzer.
Harper finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds.
The Scarlet Knights (5-4, 1-1 Big Ten), who knocked off a top-ranked team for the first time in program history, were without star guard Geo Baker (hamstring), who missed his fourth consecutive game. The Scarlet Knights also had been dealing with a flu bug that limited many of their players during practice, according to coach Steve Pikiell.
The heavily-favored Boilermakers (8-1, 1-1) were ranked No. 1 for the first time in school history, while Rutgers was coming off a 35-point drubbing at Illinois six days before.
Harper’s pass to a cutting Mawot Mag (12 points) for a dunk with 1:05 to go cut Purdue’s lead to 66-65. Cliff Omoruyi (11 points) then drew an offensive foul on Purdue’s Williams, who scored 21 points. However, Harper then turned the ball over with a bad pass on an apparent miscommunication, giving the Boilermakers the ball with 23 seconds to go.
But Jaden Ivey, who scored 15 points, traveled while trying to split a double-team, returning the ball to the Scarlet Knights with 20 seconds left for Harper’s first clutch shot.
After Eric Hunter Jr. hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to put Purdue ahead 60-53 with 5:22 to go in the game, Rutgers’ Caleb McConnell (12 points) answered with a long jumper to cut the deficit to five.
Williams’ three-point play put the Boilermakers ahead, 63-55, but the Scarlet Knights got four points on one possession. Ralph Gonzales-Agee scored in the paint and was fouled, and Harper rebounded Agee’s missed free throw and got fouled. Harper made both free throws to trim Purdue’s lead to 63-59 with 4:09 left.
After a miss by Williams, Rutgers had a chance to make it a one-possession game, but Ivey stole the ball from Omoruyi, who had just re-entered the game after being injured by an unintentional elbow from Zach Edey during a battle for a rebound. Ivey’s uncontested dunk made it 65-59 with 3:24 to go.
Purdue led 24-17 after Sasha Stefanovic’s trey with 9:32 left in the first half. But Rutgers rallied and eventually led 36-35 at intermission.
–Field Level Media
