Rutgers did almost everything possible Saturday to keep the program from a dubious distinction decades in the making.
Instead Rutgers inched closer to the near-certainty of having the longest NCAA Tournament drought of any Power Five conference school in the country.
Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh drained a go-ahead 3 with 58 seconds remaining and made a key hustle play after that to send Rutgers to a 69-65 loss at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
In a season full of near-misses for Rutgers (13-15, 2-13), this one might have hurt most because of a losing a six-point second-half lead in search of a quality win. The Scarlet Knights last reached the NCAA Tournament in 1991.
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Northwestern (20-7, 9-5) tied its single-season school record for wins and continued its hunt for its first ever NCAA Tournament berth in nearly 80 years.
Sports personality Mike Greenberg of ESPN’s Mike & Mike joined the ESPNU broadcast at one point. A Northwestern alum, Greenberg said he had heard praise for Rutgers defense but during his airtime he continually raved about the problems posed by the guards.
Corey Sanders and Nigel Johnson scored 17 and 16 points, respectively.
One of them delivered a dagger. Or so it seemed.
Johnson drained a 25-foot 3-point to beat a waning shot clock and extend Rutgers’ lead to 59-55. Sanders tried to finish it off with an off-the-dribble 3 but he front-rimmed the shot and Northwestern took the lead at the other end on McIntosh’s 3.
With the Wildcats still clinging to a two-point lead, McIntosh missed a 3 but tracked down the long rebound and drew a loose ball foul on Mike Williams.
Despite trailing for nearly 16 of the first 20 minutes, Rutgers had a chance to tie the score in the final seconds of the half. Sanders bricked a 3 and the Scarlet Knights trailed 39-36 without any points coming from the free-throw line.
Rutgers, which has a bad habit of not capitalizing on the easy, shot just 1-of-3 from the stripe last time out against Purdue. In other words, Rutgers scored one of 91 points with just six attempts at the line over 60 minutes in 1 1/2 games before the second half began against Northwestern.
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But Rutgers overcame the deficiency to tie the score at 43-43 on a transition layup by Mike Williams and take the lead on Sanders’ layup off a 3-on-1 fastbreak less than six minutes into the second half.
Northwestern scored just nine points on 4-of-14 shooting in the first 13-plus minutes of the second half before Gavin Skelly drained a 3 to make it 54-51. Sanders, who made the big shots down the stretch of in the two Big Ten wins, answered with a driving layup.
McIntosh collected 18 points and six assists.
Northwestern’s leading scorer Scottie Lindsey, who missed four games due to mononucleousis, returned to the lineup and scored five of his six points in the first half, including a 3 when the Wildcats closed the half by making 4-of-5 to atone for an 0-of-7 start.
Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.
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