Rutgers Men’s Basketball Stuns Ohio State for HUGE Big 10 Win

RUTGERS 66 - OHIO STATE 64

It's games like this that could go a long way in helping make the case for Rutgers basketball come "Selection Sunday" in March.

Trailing by eight points with less than four minutes remaining, Rutgers put together a furious comeback with a 10-0 run to shock 16th ranked Ohio State 66-64 at Jersey Mike's Arena. It was the first time since 2008 that Rutgers defeated back-to-back ranked opponents. RU defeated 13th ranked Michigan State 84-63 on Saturday.

Rutgers is now 14-9 on the season, and more importantly 8-5 in the Big 10 this season. Rutgers improved to an impressive 12-2 in home games.

Leading the way was Geo Baker, who scored a game high 25 points and was huge down the stretch.  Inside the final three minutes Ohio State's offense went totally cold, as Baker led the Rutgers comeback. First he nailed a couple of free throws, and converted on a layup that cut the Buckeyes lead to 64-60.

After a terrific block by Caleb McConnell on an attempted break-away dunk by Ohio State's Malaki Branham, Baker cashed in on a bucket that cut the Buckeyes lead to 64-62 with 2:03 to go.

Seconds later, an Ohio State turnover set up a beautiful transition pass from Baker to Clifford Omoruyi who slammed it home, tying the game at 64 with 1:13 to go.

A missed shot by Branham with 47 seconds to go, was quickly rebounded by Ron Harper Jr.  On the opposite end of the floor, Baker was fouled, drawing two free throw shots that he made to hand Rutgers at 66-64 lead.

With 15 seconds to go, all Rutgers had to do was put together one more defensive masterpiece to win the game.  And that is exactly what happened. Rutgers forced an errant shot by Branham with three seconds left. Finally in desperation, Justin Ahrens missed a three-pointer for the win for Ohio State, and Rutgers survived.

"I think all of the plays down the stretch were important down the stretch, they got the shot clock violation that I think the crowd really helped us with there," head coach Steve Pikiell said. "I told our guys, we can do those things. We've done it before. We just had to buckle down defensively against a really good team. We figured out a way, we willed it. A couple blocked shots down the stretch and we figured out a way to win against a really good opponent in a league that, I mean, the scores in this league are unbelievable. It comes down to one possession for everybody."

Rutgers improved to 3-1 against ranked opponents this season, an important mark when it comes time for the committee to select the NCAA tournament bracket.