Cam Spencer was a junior at Loyola-Maryland when the Rutgers men’s basketball knocked-off then-No. 1 Purdue at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway last December on Ron Harper Jr. 's game-winning shot.
Spencer remembers scrolling through the college hoops scores that night and noticing the Scarlet Knights upset the Boilermakers.
“I heard about it in the recruiting process. It was a cool win for the program for sure,” Spencer said. “I remember looking at the scores that day and saw Rutgers beat Purdue so I went and looked at the highlights. It was one of the better games I had seen. To be able to do it again at Purdue is pretty cool.”
DON'T HAVE TKR PREMIUM? SIGN UP TODAY FOR JUST $9.95/MONTH!
Now at Rutgers himself after transferring, Spencer helped Rutgers take down Purdue once again when it was the top ranked team in the country. Monday night, Spencer drilled a 3-pointer from near the top of the key with 14 seconds left to give Rutgers a 65-64 win at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, IN.
This time Spencer doesn’t have to watch highlights. He lived it and was a part of the Quad 1 win that vaulted Rutgers up to No. 16 on KenPom, its highest rating ever by the metric.
“Probably not,” Spencer said on if he’s made a bigger shot in his life. “Credit to my teammates. Coach drew up a great play. With how Purdue played it we had to go to something else and Paul found me and the shot went in.”
Fletcher Loyer made a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to go to put Purdue up 64-62. Purdue coach Matt Painter called a timeout after the shot which gave Rutgers time to draw something up. Spencer admitted that wasn’t exactly how the play was supposed to go, but it worked out in the end.
Mulcahy backed down his defender and fired a pass to Spencer near the top of the key. Spencer faked a shot, took a dribble to his left, and put up the triple that ended up winning the game.
“He told us he was making the shot,” Mulcahy said. “He knew what he was doing.”
Spencer was known as a knock-down shooter when he came over from Loyola-Maryland where he led the Patriot League in points, steals, and minutes per game and second in three-throw percentage, assist-to-turnover ratio, and eighth in assists as a junior.
Spencer made 6-of-11 3-pointers in the first two games of the year and then made 8-of-13 near the end of November. Against Miami, Indiana, Ohio State, and Seton Hall he was a combined 3-for-14 from deep. In the last four games, he’s risen back up to 10-of-18 and is shooting 43.8% on the season from long range.
Spencer was called for four fouls in the game, but didn’t let that fully affect him. He finished with 14 points, made six of his eight field goals including 2-for-4 from long range. He also had three assists, a steal, and was tops on the team with a +/- of plus-7.
“He played well the entire game and he's a guy who's in the gym all the time,” Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said. “He's in the film room, the guys on the team respect him and he's not just a shooter. He leads the league in steals in an unbelievable league and his assist to turnover ratio. He does a lot for us, but he's bought great chemistry. The guys love him. At the end there, he's like, ‘I'm making this’. He was very confident and he's a real confident kid. So he's been just a great addition to have, especially because it brings us another veteran guy that's been through some wars and has had some success at the college level. So really been a great addition to the program and he's a great kid from a great family and he's a great student. He's the whole package.”
Rutgers was able to build a 13-point at one point in the first half and lead by 10 at halftime. Purdue outscored Rutgers in the second half 41-30, but Rutgers made plays late and withstood every punch the Boilermakers had for the Scarlet Knights.
There were eight lead changes and six times it was tied, but Rutgers led for 27:40 of the game to only 6:53 for Purdue.
“I thought we were connected tonight,” Spencer said. “They made a run in the second half but we stayed poised. Team effort and I’m proud of us tonight.”
Brandon Newman gave the Boilermakers their first lead in the second half at 55-54 on a 3-pointer. Mulcahy took over for Rutgers as the veteran scored the next seven points for Rutgers until Spencer made the eventual game-winning bucket.
“We ran real hard on our offense. Guys got me open,” Mulcahy said. “Cliff did an incredible job this game. I think he’s the best big man in the country. The ball found me, but it took the whole team for it to open. I think in the last five minutes four guys touched the ball on every possession. That’s who we are. We share the ball and we play hard.”
“He's been terrific,” Pikiell said of Mulcahy. “He's had a terrific career, quite honestly. And then he's another kid, he's in grad school right now. Graduated early. He's a leader. Even down the stretch he wanted the ball. He makes good decisions. He has six assists and zero turnovers in this kind of environment with eight rebounds and four steals, so he did everything. He's a stat stuffer anyways, and he's a winner and he showed all those things tonight.”
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
