When the whistle blew with 15 seconds left at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Monday, the reactions around the arena were mixed.
Some Rutgers fans — and Oregon guard Wei Lin — celebrated what they believed to be a foul in Lino Mark’s favor after the freshman guard rebounded his own missed free throw, a moment that would have all but sealed a big win.
A pair of Scarlet Knight staffers sitting on the home bench threw their hands on their head after watching official Amy Bonner signal that it was a foul on Mark, giving Oregon the ball back with a 76-73 deficit and a chance to tie the game. Mark didn’t think he committed a foul, so he whirled his finger in the air to ask for a video review that never came.
Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell, meanwhile, was in limbo. He initially believed the call was in Mark’s favor, and when he realized the opposite was true while watching the replay unfold on the jumbotron, he exploded in Bonner’s direction.
He wasn’t alone. On the Peacock broadcast, play-by-play broadcaster John Fanta couldn’t believe it, either: “Oh my goodness, that is not a foul,” he said while watching a replay. “That is insanity.”
Former Rutgers star Geo Baker agreed: “That may have been the worst foul call I’ve ever seen in my life,” he tweeted.
But the call stood, and on the other end, Lin made a game-tying three-pointer to send the game to overtime.
“You can’t review it and can’t change it,” Pikiell said of the call. “I thought (Mark) did a fantastic job on both those plays. I actually thought when they blew the whistle, it was on the other team. But we fought through that.”
The Scarlet Knights fought through the shock of the poor call — one of a few among the 40 fouls called throughout the course of the game — to defeat Oregon in overtime, earning an 88-85 victory to improve to 8-7 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten.
Here is what else the Scarlet Knights said about the victory:
— Rutgers was led by junior guard Tariq Francis, who finished with a game-high 30 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and 10-of-11 shooting from the free throw line. He is averaging 25 points on 50.9% shooting from the field and 87.5% from the free throw line over the last four games.
“He’s incredible, man,” Mark said. “For me, I look for him all the time when I’m playing, knowing he’s going to get a bucket.”
— Mark played a career high 26 minutes, and he made them count. He finished with 13 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 shooting from the free throw line, two steals, one rebound and no turnovers.
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“Lino has been great,” fellow guard Jamichael Davis said. “He’s fast, strong. He’s also been pressing great as well. He’s been watching films. Out there in the moment, he’s keeping his composure. I think he made some big free throws down the stretch. That was really big for him. Right now, he’s just a good player. I think he got a great head on his shoulder. He’s willing to learn, get better. It’s kind of fun to play with him. He’s another speedy person, so I like to see that.”
— Junior forward Darren Buchanan had arguably his best game as a Scarlet Knight, finishing with 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, along with three rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal in 30 minutes.
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“I thought defensively, too, he was really good. He helped guard a lot of different guys,” Pikiell said. “(I liked) the fact he teed up that three and he got the baseline drive (in overtime), he didn’t settle for a jump shot there and he went and finished over people. But most importantly, I liked how he defended. We could put him on a big guy, a small guy. He was able to sit down and guard people.”
— Rutgers shot 30-of-34 from the free throw line, their most made free throws in a single game since last year’s loss to Alabama in Las Vegas (30-of-35). It is shooting 72.7% on the year through 15 games, on pace to be its highest percentage under Pikiell and its highest since it shot 73% during the 1973-74 season.
