DENVER (KFSM) – Little Rock was thought to be one of the No. 12 seeds who were capable of pulling an upset in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans agreed.
Josh Hagins drained a deep 3-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation then Little Rock hung on in double overtime to take down No. 5 seeded Purdue 85-83 to advance to the second round.
“I’m a senior,” Hagins said. “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 had a 65-52 lead with 3:33 left in the second half but the Trojans ended the second half on an 18-5 run to force overtime. Little Rock got a runner in the paint in the closing seconds of the first overtime to force the second extra period then the Trojans quickly jumped out to a five point lead before hanging on for the two-point win.
“We talked about, ‘Do you think Purdue would match up with us or do you think it’s going to be a deal where we’re going to have to match up with them all game long?'” Little Rock coach Chris Beard said. “We never in our wildest dreams imagined they would match up with us. Late in the game when they did that, it brought us confidence. Looking around the huddle, This is real, this is our moment. They just matched up with us. Let’s go play Little Rock basketball.”
