No. 12 Arkansas-Little Rock used a late second-half rally and some clutch shooting to pull off the stunner and upset No. 5 Purdue 85-83 in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Josh Hagins led the Trojans with a career-best 31 points as Purdue just went cold at the wrong time and committed an eye-popping 18 turnovers to lose early in the big dance once again.
As a result, the Trojans will move on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1986.
At one point in the game, it looked like Purdue had the game in the bag. The Boilermakers led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but then Arkansas-Little Rock turned on the afterburners. The Trojans went on a 10-0 run and made some clutch baskets down the stretch. Big man Lis Shoshi’s three-pointer hit a friendly bounce off the rim and with four seconds remaining in regulation, Hagins drilled a deep three to tie the game.
Hagins would add another clutch basket in overtime, hitting the game-tying layup to tie the game at 75 and force double-overtime.
And Arkansas-Little Rock would never look back from that point on, with Hagins opening the second overtime with a clutch jumper and then teammate Kemy Osse would hit a three to put the Trojans up 80-75 and some free-throws later, plus a missed layup by Purdue guard Johnny Hill, the game was in the bag.
Next for Arkansas-Little Rock is a date with Iowa State on Saturday and after a game like tonight’s, they are officially in Cinderella territory.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports