THE BARN, NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - March 2, 1976
The Sports Time Traveler has been following the 1976 Rutgers men’s basketball team day-by-day throughout this thrilling season. It’s a game that I remember in real life. Now I would get to re-visit it virtually. I was as excited about this trip back in time as any I’ve ever taken.
Now let’s go back to 1976.
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights came into last night’s game with an undefeated 25 - 0 record.
Rutgers has never been a basketball powerhouse.
Prior to this season they had never won more than 22 games.
They had NEVER been ranked in the top 20 in the final AP or UPI ranking.
And here they were, going into last night’s final regular season game with a 25 - 0 record and ranked #3 in the country.
They’ve done it with a special group of players who combine athleticism with hard work. They are routinely lauded by opposing coaches for their otherworldly team speed. They smother opponents with a full-court pressing, man-to-man defense. And they are prone to offensive explosions that leave teams stunned and hopelessly behind on the scoreboard. They are scoring 97 points a game and beating teams by an average of 20.
The Players
Rutgers boasts a starting 5 who can all score, can all run the court, and all have their own special talents.
Phil Sellers - 6’5” senior forward: An All-American candidate. A lethal scorer and surprisingly strong rebounder for his size. He leads the team in both points and rebounds.
Mike Dabney - 6’4” senior guard: Great shooter and defensive player. Leads the team in field goals made and steals, averaging over 3 steals per game.
Eddie Jordan - 6’1” junior guard: Fastest hands on the team. Averaging over 3 steals per game. Can also light it up and dish it out on offense. Leads the team in assists.
Hollis Copeland - 6’6” sophomore forward: 4th leading scorer. 3rd leading rebounder. Runs the court well, can elevate, and is a devastating mid-range shooter.
James Bailey - 6’9” freshman center: Took over the starting center job a few games into the season when his supreme natural talent made it impossible to continue deferring to senior center Mike Palko. Bailey can jump as well as anyone in college basketball. He leads the team in blocks, averaging over 3 per game. He’s also the 2nd leading rebounder behind Sellers. And he is a major contributor on offense. He had the flu a couple of weeks ago and has had some subpar games. But in his most recent game, he seemed to be back to full strength.
In addition, one super sub has emerged:
Abdel Anderson - 6’7” freshman forward-center: Anderson is the team’s top man off the bench and can fill in at both forward and center, making him a key player. He filled in for Bailey nicely at center when Bailey was sick with the flu.
And now this group needs just 1 more win tonight for a perfect regular season.
The Opponent
St. Bonaventure is no pushover. They came into the game 16 - 8. And they are the last team to have beaten Rutgers in a regular season game, when they defeated them 93 - 91 last February, on their home court, on their western New York state campus.
This year they’ve beaten Georgetown and Depaul.
And they stayed tight in a game at #6 Notre Dame until mid-way through the 2nd half.
They came into the game last night “expecting to win.” That’s what their head coach Jim Satalin told Ken O’Brien of the New Brunswick Home News.
The Venue and the Fans
Luckily for Rutgers, the game took place at home, on the New Brunswick, New Jersey campus, in the tiny gym affectionately called, “The Barn.”
The arena holds just 2,800 fans. On this night, they crammed a record 3,000 into the arena.
The noise level in the tiny gym gets so loud that a couple of weeks ago, paint chips fell from the ceiling in the middle of a game, spraying the court, and causing a temporary stoppage to clean it up.
The fans are an integral part of Rutgers’ success as they make for one of the most difficult environments imaginable for the visiting team.
As each St. Bonaventure starting player was announced last night, the Rutgers crowd shouted in unison, “Who’s he?” The fans were doing their part to stifle the opposing team.
The Pressure
There was no avoiding the pressure of this game. For the past month, pundits have been speculating that Rutgers could run the table and finish undefeated.
Joe Donnelly of Newsday wrote, “The players heard it in their classes and wherever they were recognized. An unbeaten season had become a fetish, nothing less would do.”
Rutgers’ coach Tom Young told Donnelly, “This game was by far the most pressure of the season.”
The First Half
After the opening tip off it didn’t appear Rutgers felt any pressure. They reeled off one of their patented offensive spurts, racing to a 12 - 4 lead in the first 4 minutes.
And then the pressure hit them.
Rutgers stopped playing like Rutgers. Coach Tom Young described their play during the remainder of the 1st half to Donnelly, “We weren’t getting off our feet. They were annihilating us on the boards. You don’t throw away passes and miss layups like we did unless you are feeling some pressure.”
At halftime, Rutgers still led, but by just 2 points at 39 - 37.
A major factor in the first half was St. Bonaveture center Essie Hollis. Giving away 2 inches to James Bailey, Hollis was able to overpower Bailey on the boards. For the entire game, Hollis grabbed 21 rebounds. That’s the most any center has had against Rutgers this season.
The Second Half
Whatever Tom Young told his team at halftime, it worked. The Scarlet Knights scored 10 points in the first 97 seconds and took a 49 - 42 lead.
Marty McLaughlin of the New York Daily News wrote, “It looked like they might break it open.”
But St. Bonaventure did not back down.
In fact, they came back, and the Bonnies took the lead at 60 - 58.
With the game nearly even and under 12 minutes remaining, “The Barn rocked as the two teams traded baskets,” wrote Joe Donnelly.
McLaughlin wrote, “The game rocked back and forth and was tied seven times in the next five minutes.”
Moss Klein of the Newark Star-Ledger wrote, “The teams battled among the frantic roaring of the overflow Rutgers crowd.”
At this point, the game was tied at 68 with about 7 minutes remaining.
It was anybody’s game.
The Break
And then, as often has happened in Rutgers’ games during this incredible season, there was a sudden, ferocious run. A staggering short burst that drives a dagger into the other team’s dreams of victory.
But there was one major difference with this dagger.
It wasn’t perpetrated by the Scarlet Knights.
NO!
St. Bonaventure reeled off 7 straight points. 7 points that broke the tie and catapulted the Bonnies into a commanding lead at 75 - 68 with 6:15 to go in the “undefeated season.”
McLaughlin wrote in the Daily News, “Rutgers… looked ready to fold.”
St. Bonaventure in Control
“The Undefeated Season in Extreme Peril.” That’s how Ken O’Brien described the moment.
Moss Klein wrote in the Newark Star-Ledger, “The crowd was shrieking for a miracle comeback, but St. Bonaventure appeared in control. It seemed that Alice was going to crash through the looking glass.”
Phil Sellers told O’Brien after the game, “We knew it was time for us to turn it on or else.”
Mike Dabney led the charge. Eddie Jordan told Joe Donnelly, “Dipper (Dabney’s nickname) kept saying, “reach back, reach back.”
Reaching Back
The Scarlet Knights adhered to the chant of their senior guard.
First, it was Phil Sellers scoring a layup, “on a beautiful pass from Dabney,” wrote McLaughlin. That made it 75 - 70, St. Bonaventure.
Next it was Hollis Copeland, “scoring on a Dabney feed,” as described by McLaughlin.
75 - 72, St. Bonaventure.
And then it was Dabney himself slashing to the basket.
Rutgers was back in the ball game. Although St. Bonaventure still led by 1 point at 75 - 74 with 4:32 remaining.
Not Done Yet
Yet again, St. Bonaventure didn’t succumb as 25 teams had done so before this glorious season for the Scarlet Knights. Essie Hollis immediately hit a jump shot, and the Bonnies padded the lead back up to 3 points at 77 - 74 with 4:22 to go.
Rutgers clawed back yet again. Sellers hit a jumper, and Eddie Jordan canned 2 free throws, and Rutgers was once again on top at 78 - 77 with 2:21 left.
But that lasted only seconds as Essie Hollis hit another jumper and it was the Bonnies back in front 79 - 78 with 1:58 left!
Moss Klein wrote, “The crowd was frantic, players on both benches were standing, the coaches were jumping.”
Sellers hit another jumper and Rutgers re-took the lead at 80 - 79 with 1:47 on the clock!
Then a foul shot by St. Bonaventure’s Jim Baron tied the game at 80 with 1:32 to go.
92 Seconds Left in the Season
The game was tied. The undefeated season was in doubt. And St. Bonaventure’s Jim Baron had another foul shot that could put the Bonnies back in the lead once more.
Baron missed.
The ball bounded to the corner of the court.
Abdel Anderson grabbed it. It was the biggest rebound of his life.
And the freshman got fouled by Baron.
Now Abdel Anderson went to the line for a one-and-one. If he missed the 1st one, he would not get a 2nd.
It’s a certainty that he had never taken a shot with this much pressure on him before.
He made the 1st one. Rutgers led 81 - 80.
Now he had 1 more foul shot. He made it! Abdel Anderson, a freshman, had given Rutgers a 2 point lead at 82 - 80.
In the Zone
Now with a 2 point lead, coach Tom Young called for Rutgers to abandon its patented pressure man-to-man defense and adopt a zone for the 1st time in the game.
Moss Klein wrote that St. Bonaventure coach Jim Satalin told his team, “work the ball around for a good shot.”
Star players define themselves by making big plays down the stretch. And it was at this point that Rutgers’ biggest star, Phil Sellers, made the extra effort to just barely get his hand on a pass from Jim Baron to the Bonnies’ Greg Sanders. It was just enough of a deflection that Sanders couldn’t handle the ball, and he lost it out of bounds.
Rutgers had the ball and the lead with 48 ticks to go.
Now Rutgers could run out the clock.
Tied Up Again!
Rutgers had the ball and a 2 point lead. But after 15 seconds of running the clock down, the Bonnies’ Jim Baron slapped the ball away from Mike Dabney.
St. Bonaventure’s Glen Hagan got the ball and drove for an uncontested layup.
The game was tied at 82.
Wait a Minute!
The game was tied. But something was going on that few people in the arena caught.
Alan Friedman of the Newark Star-Ledger wrote, “In the din of the small Rutgers gym, no one heard the whistle. A foul on Baron. No basket.”
Friedman reported that, “St. Bonaventure coach Jim Satalin didn’t hear the whistle either and was beside himself. The Bonnies thought it was a bad call.”
But Mike Dabney insisted that Baron had hit him. He told Friedman, “It was a slight hit. But it was like one they called on me.”
Instead of the game being tied at 82, it was Rutgers still ahead 82 - 80, and Mike Dabney going to the foul line for a one-and-one with 31 seconds on the clock.
Dabney, as seniors are expected to do, canned both free throws, and Rutgers was up by 4 points.
St. Bonaventure was finally subdued.
As the clock got under 10 seconds, the crowd yelled out the countdown.
O’Brien reported, “At the conclusion of the countdown, the audience exploded into a deafening shriek. Students poured onto the court, joyfully embraced Rutgers players who were quickly hustled to the locker rooms, clapped each other on the back, horsed around for the benefit of the television cameras, and stamped and cheered.”
A cheerleader told O’Brien, “I’ve never known no happier moment. None, none whatsoever.”
O’Brien reported that a student yelled out, “The epitome of the best.”
Rutgers had achieved the dream.
The Scarlet Knights had completed the undefeated season.
Fittingly, the seniors had led the way. Sellers finished with a game high 25 points on 11 for 19 shooting, and a team high 13 rebounds.
Dabney had 19 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists and didn’t miss a free throw, including the 2 big ones with 31 seconds to play that iced the game.
Together the senior pair had scored more than half of Rutgers’ points.
A delirious celebration followed in New Brunswick.
A Picture from the Game
Mike Dabney goes in for a layup during last night’s game. The picture displays an unusual feature of The Barn. Seats in the gym are only on 3 sides of the court, with a wall directly behind the players’ benches and the scorer’s table.
Now, Rutgers will prepare for the ECAC tournament. The tournament winner will earn a berth in the NCAA tournament.
The Sports Time Traveler will continue to follow 1976 Rutgers basketball into the postseason.
really cool to see you post cool things about the past
we need more of that
I cannot thank you enough for this reporting. Your posts on this miraculous Rutgers season should be required reading by all incoming undergraduates and surviving alumni. Why not require every NJ citizen?