Arkansas-Little Rock Upsets Purdue 85-83 In Double OT Classic

This is why we love March Madness.  With Arkansas-Little Rock trailing 70-67 in the closing seconds, senior point guard Josh Hagins, on his 22nd birthday, rose up on a step back and sank a three pointer from near the mid-court logo with 4 seconds remaining.

No. 12 Arkansas-Little Rock Upsets No. 5 Purdue 85-83 In 2OT

Hagins 3 pointer culminated a huge, almost seemingly impossible 21-7 run to close the game, sparked by a Hagins steal with 4:12 remaining and then a three pointer 10 seconds later.

The senior finished with 31 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and five steals for the Trojans (30-4).

“I’m a senior,” said Hagins, “I’ve waited 22 years, to be honest, to get to this point, this one game. I wasn’t going to go out like that. I wasn’t going to go without a fight. I made shots, missed them. I was going to go out swinging.”

Purdue got a pair of strong performances from A.J. Hammons (16 points and 15 rebounds) and Vince Edwards (24 points and 13 rebounds), but it wasn’t enough against the pesky Trojan defense. Little Rock scored 25 points of off turnovers, the most the Boilermakers (26-9) allowed all season, including 10 in the final 5 minutes of regulation.

“We got complacent with our lead,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter (pictured) said. “We didn’t put our foot down and take control of the lead and keep it going, stay strong.”

Hagins hit mid range pull up shot to start the second overtime period to give the Trojans the lead and Purdue never regained the lead. “I live for those situations, man,” the senior said.

With the upset win, 44 12 seeds have beaten 5 seeds in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, No. 12 Yale also defeated No. 5 Baylor on Thursday. The Trojans will face No. 4 Iowa State on Saturday, while Yale will take on No. 4 Duke.

It was second tournament win in Little Rock history, but they were confident in their ability to knock off the Boilermakers. “Bottom line … we’re not one of those teams that came here to give Purdue a good run or anything like that,” Hagins said. “We believe in ourselves and have enough confidence to win the game.”