Minnesota Epilogue

[bac2therac]

Last night was a devastating loss. I am having trouble processing what transpired. Is this what getting knocked out cold by a sucker punch feels like. Its like I was transported to the early and mid 90's where I was literally living and dying on the result of each game taking the losses so hard. I can still remember sitting in that student section on that February night in 1993 as RU clung to a 2 point lead over George Washington with 1.9 seconds to go. A Brigham pass the length of the court to Yinka Dare with Chuck Weiler defending him. Dare miraculously caught it clean and made the layup to send the game into overtime. GW finally won 1905-100 in 2 OT. I was crushed. It literally took me two weeks to recover. I had only known of NCAAs and NITs during my time at Rutgers. Though it was in early February the writing was on the wall for that 93 season. There was the Bannon year in 99 where RU shot themselves in the leg vs Georgetown and Seton Hall late. And we must include the meltdown loss to Arizona State in the 1991 NCAA tourney and most recently the 2021 NCAA tourney vs Houston. The losses eat away at your insides. They feast on your fandom. Last night's loss to Minnesota was very much like Va Tech in 2004 to in effect kept Rutgers out of the NCAA tourney. The similarities are striking. RU beat Va Tech by 30 at the RAC, were up 15 on the road and hit a buzzer beater to win. RU beat Minnesota on at the RAC by 35, led by 14 and lost on a buzzer beater. True that game, RU did not blow a 10 point lead in 70 seconds. No that is a choke job that we always fear as fans as you squirm in your seat while RU is up 8 with a minute to go. There is a reason we do that. We are smart people. We do that to because we know something like last night exists. We know the basketball gods can be benevolent but they can be ruthlessly cruel. We suffered the highs and lows of their manipulation last Sunday night at Penn State. Well they were not done. For Rutgers' NCAA hopes now in jeopardy, we can only hope they are still not done.

There's got to be a morning after
If we can hold on through the night
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let's keep on looking for the light

 

[goru7]

Last night was a devastating loss. I am having trouble processing what transpired. Is this what getting knocked out cold by a sucker punch feels like. Its like I was transported to the early and mid 90's where I was literally living and dying on the result of each game taking the losses so hard. I can still remember sitting in that student section on that February night in 1993 as RU clung to a 2 point lead over George Washington with 1.9 seconds to go. A Brigham pass the length of the court to Yinka Dare with Chuck Weiler defending him. Dare miraculously caught it clean and made the layup to send the game into overtime. GW finally won 1905-100 in 2 OT. I was crushed. It literally took me two weeks to recover. I had only known of NCAAs and NITs during my time at Rutgers. Though it was in early February the writing was on the wall for that 93 season. There was the Bannon year in 99 where RU shot themselves in the leg vs Georgetown and Seton Hall late. And we must include the meltdown loss to Arizona State in the 1991 NCAA tourney and most recently the 2021 NCAA tourney vs Houston. The losses eat away at your insides. They feast on your fandom. Last night's loss to Minnesota was very much like Va Tech in 2004 to in effect kept Rutgers out of the NCAA tourney. The similarities are striking. RU beat Va Tech by 30 at the RAC, were up 15 on the road and hit a buzzer beater to win. RU beat Minnesota on at the RAC by 35, led by 14 and lost on a buzzer beater. True that game, RU did not blow a 10 point lead in 70 seconds. No that is a choke job that we always fear as fans as you squirm in your seat while RU is up 8 with a minute to go. There is a reason we do that. We are smart people. We do that to because we know something like last night exists. We know the basketball gods can be benevolent but they can be ruthlessly cruel. We suffered the highs and lows of their manipulation last Sunday night at Penn State. Well they were not done. For Rutgers' NCAA hopes now in jeopardy, we can only hope they are still not done.

There's got to be a morning after
If we can hold on through the night
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let's keep on looking for the light

You like me and all the diehards are all hurting this morning. I use to take these losses real bad and people knew me as the Rutgers guy and so always defended Rutgers even when we weren’t very good . My wife says my mood changes. I have changed a little this year and last.

Despite the collapse last night , I see a lot of positives and hope Pike isn’t so loyal. We played our best road game of the year and for 37 minutes I was not complaining about our offense or our defense or the coaching. I think it was when Caleb stole the ball and went in for the dunk and z Garcia gave the hard foul that our offense got stagnant. We were moving the ball great up until then and had 19 assists last night . I think shortly thereafter Paul threw up an airball that started the offensive struggles but we kept on making steals and deflections until like the 2 minute mark. Then the meltdown by Paul in the last minute, 2 turnovers and failed to block out , Hyatt’s brain fart which could have extended lead to 5 , Cam’s missed foul shot after making 5 and then Caleb ‘s miss 1 of 2 with 5.8. Then the pike error with not pressuring the ball and not switching to man and letting Caleb handle and deny battle the ball. So a lot of bad in that last 2 min-3 minutes but a ton of good before that. Cliff and Cam scored more than 20 each for the first time all year. We didn’t turn the ball over a lot 8 times besides Paul’s last minute . We had 19 assists on 27 made baskets shooting 49% from the field. Tremendous progress offensively. I do not know why Cam can hit 2 threes in the first half and we never get another from him in the second half that would have blown the game open from 14 to 20 mid way thru. They kept on hitting a 3 to keep them within 10-12. Disappointed our defense didn’t lock down especially on the second half but I know we are capable of better defense. So overall , some positives from last night but Mulcahy has to sit more and cannot direct the offense as he is hurting us now. Pike’s loyalty has to stop.
But I am still hopeful. We can beat NW at home to get to 11-9. Not far fetched to have Penn State beat Maryland , Illinois lose to Purdue , and Indiana lose to Michigan with RU beating NW. In a 4 team pod with NW, Maryland , Indiana and Illinois we would be the higher seeded team. Iowa winning makes them the 2 and Michigan winning makes them the 3 . We need an unusual result with Ohio state beating MSU Saturday night and then we can still get the double bye. Hope springs eternal but only with less Paul

 

[G- RUnit]

My exact feelings as well. Didn’t sleep and didn’t want to look at this board today.
Still have Hope but this loss as bad as any.

I thought Titantic was great but wasn’t it really just the Poseidon Adventure?

 

[PiscatawayMike]

A lot of B1G fans, and many college hoops fans in general, on social media are loving the fact Minnesota won last night. They say it was karma and serves us right to lose because we didn't reschedule the game for Michigan State.

I gotta admit... although he didn't say anything, of course, I think it crossed Pikiell's mind immediately after the game and during the press conference.

 

[ScarletDave]

A lot of B1G fans, and many college hoops fans in general, on social media are loving the fact Minnesota won last night. They say it was karma and serves us right to lose because we didn't reschedule the game for Michigan State.

If we played Minnesota on Tuesday after the PSU comeback we would have lost by 15 so there is no Karma argument

 

[rudad02]

You like me and all the diehards are all hurting this morning. I use to take these losses real bad and people knew me as the Rutgers guy and so always defended Rutgers even when we weren’t very good . My wife says my mood changes. I have changed a little this year and last.

Despite the collapse last night , I see a lot of positives and hope Pike isn’t so loyal. We played our best road game of the year and for 37 minutes I was not complaining about our offense or our defense or the coaching. I think it was when Caleb stole the ball and went in for the dunk and z Garcia gave the hard foul that our offense got stagnant. We were moving the ball great up until then and had 19 assists last night . I think shortly thereafter Paul threw up an airball that started the offensive struggles but we kept on making steals and deflections until like the 2 minute mark. Then the meltdown by Paul in the last minute, 2 turnovers and failed to block out , Hyatt’s brain fart which could have extended lead to 5 , Cam’s missed foul shot after making 5 and then Caleb ‘s miss 1 of 2 with 5.8. Then the pike error with not pressuring the ball and not switching to man and letting Caleb handle and deny battle the ball. So a lot of bad in that last 2 min-3 minutes but a ton of good before that. Cliff and Cam scored more than 20 each for the first time all year. We didn’t turn the ball over a lot 8 times besides Paul’s last minute . We had 19 assists on 27 made baskets shooting 49% from the field. Tremendous progress offensively. I do not know why Cam can hit 2 threes in the first half and we never get another from him in the second half that would have blown the game open from 14 to 20 mid way thru. They kept on hitting a 3 to keep them within 10-12. Disappointed our defense didn’t lock down especially on the second half but I know we are capable of better defense. So overall , some positives from last night but Mulcahy has to sit more and cannot direct the offense as he is hurting us now. Pike’s loyalty has to stop.
But I am still hopeful. We can beat NW at home to get to 11-9. Not far fetched to have Penn State beat Maryland , Illinois lose to Purdue , and Indiana lose to Michigan with RU beating NW. In a 4 team pod with NW, Maryland , Indiana and Illinois we would be the higher seeded team. Iowa winning makes them the 2 and Michigan winning makes them the 3 . We need an unusual result with Ohio state beating MSU Saturday night and then we can still get the double bye. Hope springs eternal but only with less Paul

Good post & very good points.

 

[Loyal_2RU]

Good post & very good points.

Yawn...
Not regarding the posts but because I am tired and couldn't sleep.

Just a bloody awful loss....

 

[PiscatawayMike]

Yawn...
Not regarding the posts but because I am tired and couldn't sleep.

Just a bloody awful loss....

Indeed. A lot of tired RU fans trying to knock out the cobwebs of our minds today.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

If we played Minnesota on Tuesday after the PSU comeback we would have lost by 15 so there is no Karma argument

Disagree. They would have had less time to prepare for us as well. And we would have had MORE time to prepare for NW. Now.. we have a short window for the players to forget this and get out of their heads.

So much pressure now.

 

[richthedentist]

You like me and all the diehards are all hurting this morning. I use to take these losses real bad and people knew me as the Rutgers guy and so always defended Rutgers even when we weren’t very good . My wife says my mood changes. I have changed a little this year and last.

Despite the collapse last night , I see a lot of positives and hope Pike isn’t so loyal. We played our best road game of the year and for 37 minutes I was not complaining about our offense or our defense or the coaching. I think it was when Caleb stole the ball and went in for the dunk and z Garcia gave the hard foul that our offense got stagnant. We were moving the ball great up until then and had 19 assists last night . I think shortly thereafter Paul threw up an airball that started the offensive struggles but we kept on making steals and deflections until like the 2 minute mark. Then the meltdown by Paul in the last minute, 2 turnovers and failed to block out , Hyatt’s brain fart which could have extended lead to 5 , Cam’s missed foul shot after making 5 and then Caleb ‘s miss 1 of 2 with 5.8. Then the pike error with not pressuring the ball and not switching to man and letting Caleb handle and deny battle the ball. So a lot of bad in that last 2 min-3 minutes but a ton of good before that. Cliff and Cam scored more than 20 each for the first time all year. We didn’t turn the ball over a lot 8 times besides Paul’s last minute . We had 19 assists on 27 made baskets shooting 49% from the field. Tremendous progress offensively. I do not know why Cam can hit 2 threes in the first half and we never get another from him in the second half that would have blown the game open from 14 to 20 mid way thru. They kept on hitting a 3 to keep them within 10-12. Disappointed our defense didn’t lock down especially on the second half but I know we are capable of better defense. So overall , some positives from last night but Mulcahy has to sit more and cannot direct the offense as he is hurting us now. Pike’s loyalty has to stop.
But I am still hopeful. We can beat NW at home to get to 11-9. Not far fetched to have Penn State beat Maryland , Illinois lose to Purdue , and Indiana lose to Michigan with RU beating NW. In a 4 team pod with NW, Maryland , Indiana and Illinois we would be the higher seeded team. Iowa winning makes them the 2 and Michigan winning makes them the 3 . We need an unusual result with Ohio state beating MSU Saturday night and then we can still get the double bye. Hope springs eternal but only with less Paul

You are so right about all your points in that unfateful last minute but that had to be the worst coaching job by PIkell; we had a time out left and as you say so many major mistakes on the last 5 seconds that despite the previous horrible minute we should have still won if we pressured the inbounds and had Caleb on Battle just a horrific coaching job; I have to rewatch but I think Pikell was actually signalling to Caleb to get back WTF was he thinking I was screaming at the TV at that point forget about when the shot went at that point I was numb but knew that shot was going in; How can you not at the least have Caleb denying him the ball!!!

 

[Big boy stan]

Anyone else feel worried when McConnell went to the line in the last minute. Felt like I had seen this too many times this year and had little confidence it was going in. Give him credit for hitting the 2nd one but really needed both.
Love Caleb and certainly dont want him benched or anything like that but would prefer we dont get the ball to him at end of the game "foul time"

 

[ColonelRutgers]

A lot of B1G fans, and many college hoops fans in general, on social media are loving the fact Minnesota won last night. They say it was karma and serves us right to lose because we didn't reschedule the game for Michigan State.

I gotta admit... although he didn't say anything, of course, I think it crossed Pikiell's mind immediately after the game and during the press conference.

Screw them. In the same position, they all would've done the same damn thing.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Anyone else feel worried when McConnell went to the line in the last minute. Felt like I had seen this too many times this year and had little confidence it was going in. Give him credit for hitting the 2nd one but really needed both.
Love Caleb and certainly dont want him benched or anything like that but would prefer we dont get the ball to him at end of the game "foul time"

Yes, because he looked terrible at the line. Almost shot an airball at least once. Used to be a reliable late game free throw shooter but he lost it this year. There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to miss at least one if not both.

This was the exact same situation as Ohio State. If he had made two instead of one OSU and Minnesota would only have been able to tie us with buzzer beaters.

 

[MADHAT1]

This was a loss that shouldn't have happened ,
But it did and might have been because of the players relaxing and Pike not pushing them out of that .
Figuring game in the bag, all lost the winning edge and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory
I won't whine about the loss , but hope this is a lesson learned so thinking game ended just because of a big lead with little time left won't happen again and Pike will make damm sure it doesn't when he ses player starting to lose their intensity because of having a nice lead with clock in their favor.

 

[red sail]

Anyone else feel worried when McConnell went to the line in the last minute. Felt like I had seen this too many times this year and had little confidence it was going in. Give him credit for hitting the 2nd one but really needed both.
Love Caleb and certainly dont want him benched or anything like that but would prefer we dont get the ball to him at end of the game "foul time"

Cam missed a FT too prior to Caleb. The errant pass Paul threw, not covering the inbounds immediately is on Pike, and it’s been a tough pill to swallow all night and all day at work today

 

[ceranm]

Once Caleb missed the first free throw he should have missed the second. Minnesota had no timeouts. By the time they got the rebound, change direction and push up court beat you will do is half court heave and they are going to shoot a three regardless so extra point didn’t matter

 

[RUJMM78]

Once Caleb missed the first free throw he should have missed the second. Minnesota had no timeouts. By the time they got the rebound, change direction and push up court beat you will do is half court heave and they are going to shoot a three regardless so extra point didn’t matter

Your comment makes sense ,The key is when time keeper starts the clock .At Ohio State and Minnesota there was a delay in starting the time clock which helped the home team win the games,

 

[Bayonnebomber79]

Once Caleb missed the first free throw he should have missed the second. Minnesota had no timeouts. By the time they got the rebound, change direction and push up court beat you will do is half court heave and they are going to shoot a three regardless so extra point didn’t matter

Interesting take. I had not thought of that but it seems plausible.

 

[Erial_Lion_rivals140457]

This was a loss that shouldn't have happened ,
But it did and might have been because of the players relaxing and Pike not pushing them out of that .

Minnesota did what they needed to do down the stretch as well to win it.

I'm sure that almost on here thought that Rutgers played great to make the comeback against PSU on Sunday. Yet in the PSU fanbase, no one gave Rutgers any credit and thought the collapse was 100% on Lundy and Micah.

College hoops is a marathon, not a sprint. We took a huge gut punch on Sunday, and then the team rallied at Northwestern on Wednesday night. I'll be surprised if Rutgers doesn't do the same. Teams often play their best when their backs are against the wall.

 

[OriginalKnight]

Last night was a devastating loss. I am having trouble processing what transpired. Is this what getting knocked out cold by a sucker punch feels like. Its like I was transported to the early and mid 90's where I was literally living and dying on the result of each game taking the losses so hard. I can still remember sitting in that student section on that February night in 1993 as RU clung to a 2 point lead over George Washington with 1.9 seconds to go. A Brigham pass the length of the court to Yinka Dare with Chuck Weiler defending him. Dare miraculously caught it clean and made the layup to send the game into overtime. GW finally won 1905-100 in 2 OT. I was crushed. It literally took me two weeks to recover. I had only known of NCAAs and NITs during my time at Rutgers. Though it was in early February the writing was on the wall for that 93 season. There was the Bannon year in 99 where RU shot themselves in the leg vs Georgetown and Seton Hall late. And we must include the meltdown loss to Arizona State in the 1991 NCAA tourney and most recently the 2021 NCAA tourney vs Houston. The losses eat away at your insides. They feast on your fandom. Last night's loss to Minnesota was very much like Va Tech in 2004 to in effect kept Rutgers out of the NCAA tourney. The similarities are striking. RU beat Va Tech by 30 at the RAC, were up 15 on the road and hit a buzzer beater to win. RU beat Minnesota on at the RAC by 35, led by 14 and lost on a buzzer beater. True that game, RU did not blow a 10 point lead in 70 seconds. No that is a choke job that we always fear as fans as you squirm in your seat while RU is up 8 with a minute to go. There is a reason we do that. We are smart people. We do that to because we know something like last night exists. We know the basketball gods can be benevolent but they can be ruthlessly cruel. We suffered the highs and lows of their manipulation last Sunday night at Penn State. Well they were not done. For Rutgers' NCAA hopes now in jeopardy, we can only hope they are still not done.

There's got to be a morning after
If we can hold on through the night
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let's keep on looking for the light

What a mismatch. Chuck Weiler was just a terrible basketball player. I saw him play a few times at Haddonfield and he was terrible there also. He got abused by guys who were 6 2.

 

[bac2therac]

Once Caleb missed the first free throw he should have missed the second. Minnesota had no timeouts. By the time they got the rebound, change direction and push up court beat you will do is half court heave and they are going to shoot a three regardless so extra point didn’t matter

Pike had no one on the line i think?

 

[ceranm]

Pike had no one on the line i think?

Fair. Even so tho, you don’t really have enough time to do a baseball type pass . By the time you collect yourself and get going makes it tough. But then again if we had someone on the line, the way the game was going we probably would have fouled on the rebound or something and sent them to the line for 2 up 1….

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Last night was a devastating loss. I am having trouble processing what transpired. Is this what getting knocked out cold by a sucker punch feels like. Its like I was transported to the early and mid 90's where I was literally living and dying on the result of each game taking the losses so hard. I can still remember sitting in that student section on that February night in 1993 as RU clung to a 2 point lead over George Washington with 1.9 seconds to go. A Brigham pass the length of the court to Yinka Dare with Chuck Weiler defending him. Dare miraculously caught it clean and made the layup to send the game into overtime. GW finally won 1905-100 in 2 OT. I was crushed. It literally took me two weeks to recover. I had only known of NCAAs and NITs during my time at Rutgers. Though it was in early February the writing was on the wall for that 93 season. There was the Bannon year in 99 where RU shot themselves in the leg vs Georgetown and Seton Hall late. And we must include the meltdown loss to Arizona State in the 1991 NCAA tourney and most recently the 2021 NCAA tourney vs Houston. The losses eat away at your insides. They feast on your fandom. Last night's loss to Minnesota was very much like Va Tech in 2004 to in effect kept Rutgers out of the NCAA tourney. The similarities are striking. RU beat Va Tech by 30 at the RAC, were up 15 on the road and hit a buzzer beater to win. RU beat Minnesota on at the RAC by 35, led by 14 and lost on a buzzer beater. True that game, RU did not blow a 10 point lead in 70 seconds. No that is a choke job that we always fear as fans as you squirm in your seat while RU is up 8 with a minute to go. There is a reason we do that. We are smart people. We do that to because we know something like last night exists. We know the basketball gods can be benevolent but they can be ruthlessly cruel. We suffered the highs and lows of their manipulation last Sunday night at Penn State. Well they were not done. For Rutgers' NCAA hopes now in jeopardy, we can only hope they are still not done.

There's got to be a morning after
If we can hold on through the night
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let's keep on looking for the light

1979 St johns and 2021 Houston

Nothing comes close to those two

 

[RUPete]

Screw them. In the same position, they all would've done the same damn thing.

Agree. Coach has to take care of his players and his program in the end. And Hobbs was probably totally on board with this too.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Once Caleb missed the first free throw he should have missed the second. Minnesota had no timeouts. By the time they got the rebound, change direction and push up court beat you will do is half court heave and they are going to shoot a three regardless so extra point didn’t matter

No way. 5.8 seconds is an eternity. All they would've needed to do is get any FG (2 pointer or 3 pointer) to beat us.

 

[Tango Two]

Last night was a devastating loss. I am having trouble processing what transpired. Is this what getting knocked out cold by a sucker punch feels like. Its like I was transported to the early and mid 90's where I was literally living and dying on the result of each game taking the losses so hard. I can still remember sitting in that student section on that February night in 1993 as RU clung to a 2 point lead over George Washington with 1.9 seconds to go. A Brigham pass the length of the court to Yinka Dare with Chuck Weiler defending him. Dare miraculously caught it clean and made the layup to send the game into overtime. GW finally won 1905-100 in 2 OT. I was crushed. It literally took me two weeks to recover. I had only known of NCAAs and NITs during my time at Rutgers. Though it was in early February the writing was on the wall for that 93 season. There was the Bannon year in 99 where RU shot themselves in the leg vs Georgetown and Seton Hall late. And we must include the meltdown loss to Arizona State in the 1991 NCAA tourney and most recently the 2021 NCAA tourney vs Houston. The losses eat away at your insides. They feast on your fandom. Last night's loss to Minnesota was very much like Va Tech in 2004 to in effect kept Rutgers out of the NCAA tourney. The similarities are striking. RU beat Va Tech by 30 at the RAC, were up 15 on the road and hit a buzzer beater to win. RU beat Minnesota on at the RAC by 35, led by 14 and lost on a buzzer beater. True that game, RU did not blow a 10 point lead in 70 seconds. No that is a choke job that we always fear as fans as you squirm in your seat while RU is up 8 with a minute to go. There is a reason we do that. We are smart people. We do that to because we know something like last night exists. We know the basketball gods can be benevolent but they can be ruthlessly cruel. We suffered the highs and lows of their manipulation last Sunday night at Penn State. Well they were not done. For Rutgers' NCAA hopes now in jeopardy, we can only hope they are still not done.

There's got to be a morning after
If we can hold on through the night
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let's keep on looking for the light

This one was a dagger too

I can still see him racing down the court and the sea parting right to the basket:

The final curtain was 7 seconds away from closing on the longest running show in the history of Manhattan College basketball. But Chris Williams of the Jaspers raced the length of the floor for a driving layup that beat both the buzzer and Rutgers, 62-61, tonight in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

...

The Jaspers trailed the Scarlet Knights by as many as 8 points, 57-49, when Mike Jones of Rutgers connected on a 3-point basket with 4 minutes 5 seconds to play. But Manhattan took advantage of Rutgers's poor free-throw shooting in the closing minutes.

In the final 2:43, the Scarlet Knights made just 4 of 10 free throws, setting the stage for the dramatic finish before 4,350 spectators at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

...

With 13 seconds left to play, Rutgers was in possession of the basketball and ahead by 61-60.

Creighton Drury of Rutgers, inbounding the ball beneath his own basket, fired a baseball pass to teammate Steve Worthy, who had slipped ahead of the field for an apparent layup.

Worthy, however, elected to kill time off the clock instead of attempting a layup. When Ball and Referee Meet

As he passed the foul line, Worthy broke his stride toward the hoop and dribbled to his left in the direction of Referee Tom Lopes.

In the left corner, Worthy's dribble met Lopes's hip, and the ball squirted away. Several players from both teams tied the ball up, but the possession arrow -- and the final shot -- belonged to Manhattan.


All cued up multiple clips:

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/24/sports/basketball-manhattan-defeats-rutgers-at-the-buzzer.html

 

[bac2therac]

This one was a dagger too

I can still see him racing down the court and the sea parting right to the basket:

The final curtain was 7 seconds away from closing on the longest running show in the history of Manhattan College basketball. But Chris Williams of the Jaspers raced the length of the floor for a driving layup that beat both the buzzer and Rutgers, 62-61, tonight in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

...

The Jaspers trailed the Scarlet Knights by as many as 8 points, 57-49, when Mike Jones of Rutgers connected on a 3-point basket with 4 minutes 5 seconds to play. But Manhattan took advantage of Rutgers's poor free-throw shooting in the closing minutes.

In the final 2:43, the Scarlet Knights made just 4 of 10 free throws, setting the stage for the dramatic finish before 4,350 spectators at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

...

With 13 seconds left to play, Rutgers was in possession of the basketball and ahead by 61-60.

Creighton Drury of Rutgers, inbounding the ball beneath his own basket, fired a baseball pass to teammate Steve Worthy, who had slipped ahead of the field for an apparent layup.

Worthy, however, elected to kill time off the clock instead of attempting a layup. When Ball and Referee Meet

As he passed the foul line, Worthy broke his stride toward the hoop and dribbled to his left in the direction of Referee Tom Lopes.

In the left corner, Worthy's dribble met Lopes's hip, and the ball squirted away. Several players from both teams tied the ball up, but the possession arrow -- and the final shot -- belonged to Manhattan.


All cued up multiple clips:

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/24/sports/basketball-manhattan-defeats-rutgers-at-the-buzzer.html

Yep..this is one is definitely in my top 10 most crushing losses. How could they let him drive the length of the court? Prevented a quaterfinal matchup with Notre Dame and a chance to go to MSG

 

[koko2315]

No way. 5.8 seconds is an eternity. All they would've needed to do is get any FG (2 pointer or 3 pointer) to beat us.

Or get fouled and shoot 2 FT

 

[Pils86]

What a mismatch. Chuck Weiler was just a terrible basketball player. I saw him play a few times at Haddonfield and he was terrible there also. He got abused by guys who were 6 2.

Ease up on Chuck, Dare was one impressive physical specimen. 7' with broad shoulders and lean muscle, I think he could have been one of the greatest if he was born in America and played basketball at a young age.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Or get fouled and shoot 2 FT

YES!