No. 1 Purdue Loses to Rutgers on Half-Court Buzzer Beater by Ron Harper Jr.

No. 1 Purdue Loses to Rutgers on Half-Court Buzzer Beater by Ron Harper Jr.
Rutgers forward Ron Harper Jr. (24) hits the game winning shot against Purdue during an NCAA college basketball game in Piscataway, N.J., on Dec. 9, 2021. Noah K. Murray/AP Photo
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Recently crowned No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers (8–1) visited the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (5–4) on Thursday night at Piscataway, New Jersey, and came away with a heart-wrenching 70–68 loss on Ron Harper Jr.’s 40-foot shot with less than a second remaining. 

Coming into the game, Rutgers was a huge underdog as they had just lost by 35 points at Illinois six days before, while the Boilermakers were ranked No. 1 for the first time in school history. It was Rutgers’s first defeat of a No. 1 ranked team in school history.