NEW YORK (Eagle News) – It’s officially March Madness where a Cinderella team from New Brunswick, New Jersey is creating some big, magical moments at Madison Square Garden.
The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers pulled away with another upset, beating sixth-seeded Indiana Hoosiers 76-69 in the second-round of the Big Ten Tournament Thursday night.
It was the first time in seven tries that the Scarlet Knights beat the Hoosiers and advanced to their first-ever Big Ten quarterfinal.
“We did something special I knew we could do,” Rutgers Head Coach, Steve Pikiell said. “These guys kept fighting. We kind of just hung around and toughed it out. Rutgers nation got excited and made it loud and proud. And it was nice to do it here at Madison Square Garden.”
Rutgers fell in a deep hole as Indiana jumped ahead 24-8 early in the first half. But the Scarlet Knights soared, going on a 34-10 run that spanned from the last 5:29 minutes of the first half into the beginning of the second half.
The Hoosiers got within two but the support of Rutgers nation chanting “R-U, R-U” got the Scarlet Knights fired up and never trailed throughout the game. Guard Corey Sanders led the Scarlet Knights with 28 points and Deshawn Freedman and Geo Miller both had 15 points.
“Gotta give credit to the Rutgers fan section. That was amazing tonight,” Freedman said. “I gotta give a lot of credit to them.”
“Just to have people support you like that, especially in the New York area, we’ve got a lot of alumni,” Sanders added. “Just to have fans come out there and be behind us, just a great feeling, and it helps us get amped up for the game and try to win.”
The Scarlet Knights entered the tournament as the lowest seed (14) in Big Ten Conference play. With wins against the Hoosiers and 11th seed Minnesota Gophers on Wednesday, they became the first 14th seed to advance to the conference quarterfinals.
“Never get caught up in the numbers,” Coach Pikiell said. “I told our guys this is a new season [and] there’s no number. Everyone’s the same. Just gotta keep winning.”
With the team facing third-seeded and the nation’s eighth-ranked team, Purdue Boilermakers, Coach Pikiell hopes that the state of New Jersey and the city of New York will rally behind the Scarlet Knights.
“I hope we get all of New Jersey and all of New York helping us because I know our guys love playing in front of a lot of people,” Pikiell said. “I used to be in a one-bid league where you could win 20 games in a row during the regular season, nobody cares. You got to win the tournament. You have to have a great weekend and we’ve had a couple of good days. So hopefully we can make it a great weekend.”
As for being the conference’s favorite underdogs, Pikiell had other thoughts.
“Favorite. Just leave it at that,” Pikiell laughed.
(Eagle News Service, with reports from Tennie Sumague, New York Bureau)