Ron Harper Jr. sank two free throws with two seconds left to give Rutgers a 48-46 win over visiting Iowa Wednesday night in Piscataway, N.J.
Iowa trailed 46-44 when Joe Toussaint poked the ball away from Paul Mulcahy, and the Hawkeyes recovered with 35.2 seconds left. Patrick McCaffery made a game-tying layup following a timeout.
But as Rutgers set up a play to get Harper a shot at the buzzer, Iowa’s Keegan Murray was called for a foul for bumping Harper. Murray then missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Harper was the only double-figure scorer for Rutgers (11-6, 5-2 Big Ten), putting up a game-high 15 points. Cliff Omoruyi had 14 rebounds to go with seven points, including a thunderous dunk on an alley-oop that gave Rutgers a one-point lead with 3:45 to play. He seemed to injure his right foot or ankle on the landing and stayed down in pain for several moments, but was able to stay in the game.
Murray, the nation’s leading scorer entering Wednesday at 23.9 points per game, finished with a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double. Murray was limited to his third-lowest point total of the season on 5-of-14 shooting. McCaffery added 11 points.
Iowa (13-5, 3-4) was held to its worst scoring output of the year. Neither team shot the ball well, with the Hawkeyes making 17 of 61 from the field (27.9 percent) and the Scarlet Knights making 18 of 58 (31.0 percent).
Following Dean Reiber’s dunk that tied the game at 10-10, Rutgers and Iowa combined to miss their next 13 shots. Geo Baker broke the drought for Rutgers after five minutes, while Iowa’s personal scoreless stretch lasted 6:20.
With 5:46 left before halftime, Mulcahy hit the Scarlet Knights’ first 3-pointer of the night for a 15-12 lead, but it didn’t deflate Iowa. McCaffery drained a fast-break trey eight seconds later, and soon Iowa used a 6-0 stretch to go ahead 21-17.
Iowa led 27-24 at intermission despite shooting 29.4 percent. Toussaint nearly had a fast-break layup at the buzzer, but officials nullified the basket upon review.
The Hawkeyes led by as many as eight early in the second half before Rutgers began chipping away. Two Harper free throws with 6:52 to go put Rutgers up 40-39.
Iowa finished the game just 6 for 27 from 3-point range while Rutgers only made 2 of 13 from deep.
–Field Level Media