When Rutgers freshmen Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey arrived on campus as the two highest-ranked recruits in program history, there was immediate optimism that the Scarlet Knights could not only reach the NCAA Tournament for the third time this century.

Rutgers loses to USC 97-89 in double overtime in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Their hopes of having a guaranteed postseason of some sort have been dashed as they had no answers for USC’s three point shooting in what could very well be Ace Bailey’s and Dylan Harper’s last game in a Scarlet Knight uniform.

Rutgers’ run in the Big Ten Tournament was a short one. The 11 th-seeded Scarlet Knights pushed No. 14 USC after a poor showing early on before running out of steam in double overtime and falling 97-89 in the opening round Wednesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.