1979 Rutgers-Ohio State MSG Triple OT
- Thread starter Source
- Start date
We regularly played to big or sold out crowds at MSG. The ECAC championship game in 1976 against St. John's when The score was tied at 65 when Phil Sellers took Beaver Smith to the hole on 3 consecutive possessions to win 71-65, was played to a sold out raucous Garden crowd
Yea it was..you guys were great. Good coaching move by OKE to have Dink get Roy into early foul trouble..if I recall, wasn't that the only game you lost until state tournament against Middletown South?
I remember this game well. Georgetown was the sleep to get to the final four ...when we got past them and St. John's beat duke on black Sunday I had us a lock going to the final four
We really were playing well at the end of he year ...should have beaten the cuse in that game in late February where the refs gave all the calls to the Louie and Bowie show
Agree that the loss to St John's in '79 regional was the most costly in Rutgers history. Joe Boylan even mentioned that in a court club meeting last year. A return to the final four, especially with a redemption for the lackluster performance of '76 would hsve been tremendous for the program. - sand I still say that if Bailey as a senior was on that '76 team, we could have won it all, or at least take Indiana to the wire. Def would have beaten Michigan
Looks like the eBay sell has multiple copies of this DVD. Here is another one for sale:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=222396845276&globalID=EBAY-US
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=222396845276&globalID=EBAY-US
one of our fans here was on a mission a couple of years ago, to find a copy of the Ohio state game
He even contacted MSG about getting a copy, but they did not have the entire audio and video
supposedly MSG had the video of the game without audio, and Ohio state had a radio audio tape of it, and MSG was going to piece it together for a broadcast, having James Bailey and a Ohio state player on the set during the broadcasts.... I don't think anything ever came of it
edit: I see that this dvd was put together from the two sources as I mentioned, so obviously there was no audio of the tv version saved
I wish I knew about the copies just listed on ebay, I sure as hell would have bought one
anyway, I always considered this the best game and most exciting game RU has ever played since I started following them in 1975..... and I was at the Penn state, the UNLV and Indiana state wins that were very good games also
but the way that RU had to keep coming back to win in this game was incredible.... I had my
coat on 2 or 3 times, ready to stand up and leave, thinking all was lost....but it was not
He even contacted MSG about getting a copy, but they did not have the entire audio and video
supposedly MSG had the video of the game without audio, and Ohio state had a radio audio tape of it, and MSG was going to piece it together for a broadcast, having James Bailey and a Ohio state player on the set during the broadcasts.... I don't think anything ever came of it
edit: I see that this dvd was put together from the two sources as I mentioned, so obviously there was no audio of the tv version saved
I wish I knew about the copies just listed on ebay, I sure as hell would have bought one
anyway, I always considered this the best game and most exciting game RU has ever played since I started following them in 1975..... and I was at the Penn state, the UNLV and Indiana state wins that were very good games also
but the way that RU had to keep coming back to win in this game was incredible.... I had my
coat on 2 or 3 times, ready to stand up and leave, thinking all was lost....but it was not
----
RU beat Indiana state with a Bailey baseline jumper with about 2 seconds on the clock, maybe
you are confusing that finish with this.....Larry Bird threw up a shot near half court that
hit the rim, and RU won it.... barely
Wheezer, Are you up already at this time? I am the guy you helped several years ago with a copy of a game. I will call you if you are up. Does your number still end in 65?
----
I am up now!..... I was going to ask you this morning if you were the guy bugging MSG for
the Ohio state game, my memory not so good anymore...
yes, my number still ends in 65 if you want to call, just wait a couple of hours since the
rest of the family still sleeping
anyway, I contacted the ebay seller last night to see if he had or could make another copy
of the Ohio state game, he responded yes, so I placed the order a little while ago
to anyone else who saw or was at that game and wants it, it appears he
can provide the copy if you contact him through ebay
I will call you probably between 11 and 12 noon. I have some important things I must take care of now. I should be back in a few hours.
-----
career wise in college, Bailey seemed to peak his junior year..... he came in a bit heavier his senior year, possibly by the advice of pro scouts, and it might not have all been good weight
by then, other teams were really concentrating on him anyway, making it more difficult to
put up similar stats to his junior year.
----
this game ranks third on my list.....so glad to be there for that.....one of the best things was leaving MSG and having New Yorkers asking who won.... and seeing the disappointed looks on
their faces when they were told
this was an intense game, no doubt.... it started out rough, and the st johns crowd was primed for an upset, although it would not have been a huge upset
as mentioned, Phil the thrill took over at the end....the team cleared out and Phil took his
man to the hole to finish them off....
I remember that, before the game, the Daily News had a sports cartoon where the Scarlet Knight was charging at the St Johns mascot, and it seemed to predict that RU was going to come clanking down...
just for yucks, and IMHO
1) RU/Ohio state 3 ot win...... coming back, again and again....
2) RU/PU win for the a 10 championship....the best home game crowd I can remember
I could hear the crowd outside the RAC a half hour before the game... and
remaining loud throughout.....had to survive a horrid start
3) RU/St Johns MSG during the undefeated season... the stage was set for a SJU upset
Sellers carries us to the finish line
4) RU/Indiana state...... beating the incredible Larry Bird.....Bailey with the final nail on a base
line jumper with seconds to go
5) RU/Cincy (ranked 10th) at the garden feb 77...mislabeled in guide as home game
I put this game there because this was the only time I have ever seen RU wax a ranked
team, start to finish, no questions asked......I was actually a bit pissed off that we let
up a bit and they finished winning by less than 20
6) RU/UNLV....just for beating the big name team at home, against their legendary coach..... I was at another game, in
philly,
where we lead a good part of the game and lost at the very end to them
so the home game win made up for it a bit.
7) RU/WV to break their long winning streak, and tumble their top 5 ranking..... I had
no doubt we would
8) RU/SHU 97-98......RU beats the pirates by over 30 at home.... a rare total beat down.
tempers flared on the SHU side, water was spilt....
most tasty
9) RU/Villanova 2011..........an incredible sequence of events over the last 3 minutes
.... includes a couple of tremendous 3 point shots to keep us
in the game, surviving a 3 pt shot by a nova player that
should have been the dagger.... then, the 4 point play
for the win with a couple of seconds to go
no doubt someone will remember a different game that should be woven in here somewhere.
----
ok, good additions for sure
.... I remember watching the first Princeton game on tv with a lot of angst that we
might finally get beat.....when we got to the second time around, I was almost looking
past them, and as we know, they were a couple of free throws from beating us...
no shot clock, the methodical passing game, always looking for the back door chance, drove RU
fans crazy..... one of the few teams that would and could keep a RU team from
a high scoring game, and you almost never had a safe lead on them
I personally did not list those two games because they would be outside my top 9 or 10, yet both very important in the history of RU, and the undefeated season.
How about the 1976 RU-St. Bonaventure game that capped RU's 26-0 regular season game - Has to be top 3, maybe even #1, ahead of the RU-St. Johns game of that year, up there with the OSU and PSU games.
Could someone either provide a direct link to contact that person with the Audio/Video DVD - I followed the ebay link and it does not seem to work.
Or ... Shack or someone else, can you please e-mail me, as I have a question: smcohen at shoreline hyphen utility dot com.
Or ... Shack or someone else, can you please e-mail me, as I have a question: smcohen at shoreline hyphen utility dot com.
Hit on the link and than "original listing". Below hit on chabojes (the seller). Than hit on contact or see other items for sale. He has another copy on sale now. It is very easy to find him or the item on ebay.
----
while a good game, I would not include it as one of the best RU games...I would compare
that game to the thanksgiving football game at giants stadium, for example.... an important game
to finish an unbeaten season, but the game itself not an outstanding game, and beating
a lesser opponent that we should have beaten routinely
all the ones I try to pick, I think the game stood out on its own.... I would put the St Johns game in the top ten over the bonnie game, because St Johns was a very good team, possibly ranked in the 20's or so, and was, on paper, the best chance of an upset against us...
Fair enough ... I would include it for myself, on my list, because I would include blending the importance of the game (this case VERY high), with the excitement of the actual game (very high), and the fan experience - meaning for me (off the charts high).
So, my ranking would be:
1) RU-St. Bonaventure
2) RU - PSU
3) RU - Oho State
4) through 10): Arguably the rest of the games on your list, in whatever order makes sense to any fan, which could vary. By the way, that Cincy game in '77 was an interesting one to pick. I could not go (school night, and I was still in high school). Cincy had a pre-season All American center - a guy by the name of Jim Miller, I think - or something like that. James Bailey just completely dismantled him, humiliating this All American ... it was Bailey's national coming out party (remember, the prior year the team was Phil Sellers' team, and a little bit Mike Dabney - this year the team was supposed to be Eddie Jordan's team ... this game made it obvious the team was all about James Bailey, even as only a sophomore).
One game not on the list is the RU vs Missouri game, at RU, when the 6'4" Daryl Smith outplayed - offensively and defensively, Missouri's All American 6'10" Doug Smith.
Others, if you want to expand the list:
-- RU vs Georgetown, in the Garden, when RU won its 1st Big East tournament game on Geoff Billet's great, running basket.
-- RU's Semi-final win in the NIT (was that against Iowa or Iowa St?), when Douby went crazy - the Garden was ROCKING, 12,000 fans, mostly RU fans ... and the subways and trains were just jammed with RU fans. I think that was Douby's freshman year, and he had only been put in the starting line up the last 5-6 games of the regular season ... that was his coming out party.
-- The home game against Providence and their All American WF Jamal (?) Thomas. Dahntay Jones, as a freshman, completely shut down Thomas, harassing him into 8-10 turnovers.
-- The home game against Notre Dame, when Rashad Kent went one on one defensively against Troy Murphy, Notre Dame's All American PF ... and completely took Murphy out of the game: Maybe allowed him just 11 points (5 or 6 of which were in the last minute, when RU had the game won), 8 turnovers, 2-3 rebounds. The crowd howled and booed at Murphy every time he touched the ball .. and were rewarded by Kent's defensive domination.
Three of the best effort defensive performances by RU individual players 3 of those I cite: Daryl Smith, Dahntay Jones and Kent. There were others, but those were memorable.
Odd tidbit, dating from the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons: RU beat Georgetown in the NIT 3rd place consolation game in the 1977-78 season, and again in the NCAA's in the 1978-79 season, beating Georgetown in back to back games facing them (in back to back seasons). I believe that during the next 25 seasons or more, Rutgers was the ONLY team to beat Georgetown in back to back times facing them. It is kind of an odd trivia question, but think of all the times Georgetown played every Big East team 2 or even 3 times every year, for 25 years, and and it took more than 25 years before any Big East team beat Georgetown in back to back games ... for that entire time frame, RU was the last team to do so.
I got the DVD off ebay. Before you buy it you should know that the video for the last 4 minutes of regulation and the first 2 OT's doesn't exist. Audio only. Major disappointment! The final OT is included but missing that flow leaves a lot to be desired.
I have not yet received it, but even splicing together what you say was splice together is pretty amazing to have.
Now we just need the RU-St. Bonaventure game from 1976 ... supposedly there is video or tape out there, but kind of lost. There have been rumors that a video was auctioned at some point - but copies were not retained, amazingly enough - or lost. Which would mean that SOME RU donor has possession of this tape.
----
very good post, enjoy reading your thoughts,,...I had the good fortune to go to the Iowa state game, Providence, Missouri, and Notre dame games, you mentioned,and most of them were considered .... I guess we all have our individual favorites........
I just cannot put
the Bonnie game on my list because they were not a team that should have challenged RU, we underperformed in that game, and pulled it out in the end... granted it finished the undefeated season, but that game should not have been close.
Many old timers have the PU/RU game on top, if you were to have a vote on it, ... this also would be influenced that there were many more fans
who could attend that game than the Bonnie game.
Last edited:
Similar threads
