Rutgers wins 1st NCAA Tournament game in 38 years, rallies for thrilling win over Clemson

INDIANAPOLIS — Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell looked around the locker room before his team took the court for its first NCAA Tournament game in 30 years on Friday night, and told his players he wasn’t ready to put the uniforms away for the season.

Geo Baker, Jacob Young and the rest of the Scarlet Knights weren’t ready for it to end, either.

Rutgers made sure its first trip to the big dance won’t be short-lived, rallying for a 60-56 win over Clemson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Baker scored 13 points, including a clutch layup to ice it with 10 seconds to play, and Young added 13 as Rutgers won its first NCAA Tournament game in 38 years.

“We just feel like a special unit, man,’’ Baker said. “We feel like this was meant to be. For some of us it’s been two years where we’ve been waiting for this moment. Just a whole lot of emotions but at the same time we felt like this was meant to be and we should be here. Everybody’s just really happy right now.’’

The 10th-seeded Scarlet Knights will face 2nd-seeded Houston on Sunday at a time to be determined on Sunday here in Indianapolis.

“Excited for Rutgers nation,’’ Pikiell said. “Excited we get to live for another 40 minutes.’’

Young, the heart and soul of so many big Rutgers wins this season, dribbled out the clock in the Scarlet Knights’ biggest triumph in decades.

This one wasn’t pretty, but Rutgers made just enough clutch plays in the waning minutes to seal it.

Ron Harper Jr. added 10 points for the Scarlet Knights, who shot 39.7 % from the floor and 26.7 % from beyond the arc.

Rutgers produced its second-lowest scoring output of a first half, shooting 37.5 % from the field, 2-for-12 (16.7 %) from beyond the arc and committing 10 turnovers as Clemson cruised to a 26-23 lead.

COVID-19 pandemic restrictions limited Bankers Life Fieldhouse to 25 % of its 18,000-seat capacity, but Rutgers fans made up the majority of the 4,500 fans. R-U chants erupted at various points of the game. Jacob Young brought thousands of the RU faithful to the feet by flexing his muscles following an emphatic dunk late in the first half.

Clemson extended its lead to five points two Paul Mulcahy 3-pointers and a Geo Baker trifecta pulled the Scarlet Knights with 33-32 at the first media timeout.

Rutgers’ comeback started with a Caleb McConnell jumper, and then Jacob Young’s 3-pointer with 12:16 to play gave Rutgers its first lead since the 4:43 mark of the first half.

Rutgers used a 16-2 run over a 4-minute, 19-seconds span to go up 50-39 with 9:35 to play. McConnell scored eight of the 16 points during the spurt, while Young chipped in with five points.

But Rutgers’ 11-point lead didn’t last long. Clemson got back into it with an 10-0 run over the next four minutes before Young put a stop to it with a 3-pointer to make it 53-49 with 5:13 remaining.

A conversional 3-point play by Clyde Trapp tied it for Clemson with 4:12 left. It was tied at 55 apiece at the final media timeout, but Geo Baker came out of the break with a 3-pointer.

Clemson pulled within a basket with two minutes to play and Rutgers missed three shots that could’ve given it much-needed separation. Clemson called a timeout with 40 seconds to play. The result was a Aamir Simms travel.

Rutgers dribbled out the next possession to the final seconds of the shot clock before Baker hauled in a pass and floated in a layup with 10.8 seconds to play.

“I definitely tried to be a little too flashy — I tried to throw a no-look pass to Ron (Harper),’’ Baker said. “I thought Simms was going to bite a little bit because there was also a man on the other side. I tried to throw a little no-look but he read it. He tipped it and I just stayed with the play, and got a layup. It was just right-place-right-time. But that’s our mentality, too, that you never give up on a play.’’

The basket put Rutgers up four points, and Clemson couldn’t recover.

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Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.