Trojans upset Boilermakers: NCAA Tournament

On the first day of the NCAA tournament, (12) Yale beat (5) Baylor 79-75. Arkansas-Little Rock was hoping to be the second (12) to beat a (5) today and they accomplished it in dramatic fashion. G Josh Hagins was 1-5 for 2 points in the 1st half. “We did try to help him at halftime by shaking the tree a little bit,” Trojans Coach Chris Beard told the media following the game. Hagins scored 29 points in the 2nd half and double-overtime to lead the Trojans to an upset win over the Boilermakers 85-83.

The second game of the day featured the top team in the Sun Belt Conference Arkansas-Little Rock vs the Big Ten’s Purdue Boilermakers. Going into this game, the expectation was for a bit more defense and slower pace than Iona vs Iowa State. After all, we are talking about two Top-25 defenses going head-to-head. The first half definitely had that feel as, despite F Vince Edwards buzzer-beater 3-pointer to give the Boilermakers a 31-28 lead at halftime, he along with Trojans’ G Marcus Johnson Jr, were the only players in double-figures with 10 points. Purdue is the better team, but early in this game Arkansas-Little Rock was forcing them into tough shots from the perimeter. Purdue shot 36% from the field and was 3-13 from beyond the arc at half. Arkansas-Little Rock didn’t fair much better from the field shooting 34.4% however, even though the Trojans trailed at half, they had to feel as though they won the first half keeping the score within one possession.

The 2nd half we saw a different kind of game. It seemed like Purdue would be able to hold off Arkansas-Little Rock until Josh Hagins decided to take over. With 1:12 remaining, Hagins nailed a DEEP 3-pointer to pull the Tojans within three. “We got complacent with our lead at the end of regulation,” said F Vince Edwards, who finished the game with a team high 24 points. Both teams exchanged baskets before Hagins, with 5 seconds remaining, buried an absolute bullet from beyond the arc to send the game into overtime.

The crowd’s rooting interest shifted from a 50-50 split to earnestly pulling for the Trojans to beat the Boilermakers. In OT, the two teams continued to trade baskets until Hagins drove down the lane and tied the game at 75 with about 20 seconds remaining. The Boilermakers airballed their response so we headed to double-OT! Both teams exhausted by this point and with the momentum clearly on the Trojans side, they imposed what will they had left to finish off the Purdue Boilermakers and send home the second 5th seed of the tournament.

“We’re not done yet. I’ve always thought there’s different kinds of teams that go to tournaments. Teams that are happy to be in the tournament and teams that go to try to win the tournament. That’s kind of our objective right now. We think we have a team that can advance in this tournament,” said Trojans Coach Chris Beard following the game. Arkansas-Little Rock will face Iowa State on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Round 2.

Ryan Edwards

@ryanedwards1043

TOP PHOTO CREDIT: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports