As the ball left Geo Baker’s han✤ds, the sellout crowd gasped in anticipation, expecting the shot to drop.
So much had gone right in this building over the last🧔 month. There had been so many memorable moments over the last few years with this core. A 3-pointer to force overtime almost seemed preordained.
“He’s had a great career making big shots,” Rutgers coa🌜ch Steve Pikiell said. “He tees it up, he had it rolling there t🐷onight …”
Just not this time.
The shot didn’t fall. It was well long. Baker wrapped his jersey over his face, then hung his🐻 head.
Rutgers wasn’t going to clinch another victory over a ranked opponent at Jersey Mike’s Arena. Wisconsin, the 13th-ranked team in the country, escaped Piscataway, N.J., with a hard-fought 66-61 victory. The Scarlet Knights’ NCAA Tournament hopes remain precarious, dependent on them getting off the mat Wednesday at Indiana and, possཧibly, winning at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament.
“We would🌟n’t want it any other way,” senior Caleb McConnell said after Rutgers’ third straight loss. “Our backs are always [against] the wall. We get up off the wall, bounce back, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Baker had nothing to be ashamed of after his performance. He scored 16 of his 19 points in the seco✤nd half, almost willing Rutgers (16-12, 10-8 Big Ten) back from an 11-point, second-half deficit.
Tyler Wahl hit a layup to extend Wisconsin’s lead to five with 1:13 left. When Baker was stripped on the other end, the game seemed over. But Ron Harper Jr. raced back to block Chucky Hepburn’s layup, wedꦡ🏅ging it on the side of the rim and giving Rutgers the ball back on the alternate possession.
Baker cut the deficit to a single possession with a layup that spun in, to snap a field goal drought of 5:03, and Harper’s 3-pointer made it a two-point game with 28.3 secon𒆙ds to go.
But there was no magic left in the building on this night. Baker’s 3-pointer was well off to the right and Johnny Davis iced the game at the line for Wisconsin (23-5, 14-4) with fouꦐr seconds left.
That Rutgers was even in the game down the stretch was a credit to its tenacity on defense, Baker’s big second-half and how well McConnell guarded Davis, a projected top-10 pick. Davis, who was shut down by McConnell in the first meeting between the two teams, needed 19 shots to score 19 points. Everythi﷽ng was tough for the sophomore, who is averaging 20.6 points per game.
“Scoring on Caleb, from personal exp⛦erience, it ain’t easy,” said Harper, who finished with 15 ꧋points. “It is frustrating and it is annoying. That’s what makes him that great of a defender.”
At halftime, Wisconsin seemed in control. It held a nine-point lead, and there was a lid on the basket for Rutgers. But ☂the Scarlet Knights came roaring out of intermission, reeling off an 18-9 run to get even at 42 on a Harper 3-pointer. There was 12:01 left, and the large crowd was going bezerk, as it had in recent wins ov𒀰er Michigan State, Ohio State and Illinois. But this time, Rutgers didn’t send its fans home happy.
The Scarlet Knights didn’t have that finishing kick on Saturday night, but they insist there is still plenty of energy in reserﷺve. They plan to show just how much in Bloomington, Ind., on Wednesday.
“We got everything left in💫 the tank,” McConnell said. “We got to regroup and we got to be better. We g🦩ot it in us. We did it before.”