RU/PSU 1989 A-10 final

[29PAS]

Just watched it last night for the first time. I'm not sure how I missed this live as we were going to games and watching them on TV at the time. Great game, and another great outcome. The RAC sounded REALLY loud as many of you have commented on in the past. Two things struck me - how few 3-point attempts there were compared to today's game and did Dadika ever come out of the game? He must have but I didn't see it. Gee, maybe I'll have to watch it again!

 

[bac2therac]

the greatest in game experience i have ever witnessed..of course I was just a freshmen at RU

loudest continuous and best atmosphere I have ever witnessed at the RAC

because of the reduction in capacity and because you wont have opposing teams fans given at least 20% of the seating it will never have that kind of experience again

 

[Degaz-RU]

It was incredible. The RAC was bursting at its seams with 9,000, and the student section was much closer to the baseline back then (and there were students behind our bench too). Decibel level must have been at 120 the entire game.

 

[RUtix4me]

Was at the game, somehow in student section, But had graduated a few years prior.

great game.

Followed it up by going to Providence for the Iowa game.

 

[RUtrumpet92_rivals498139]

This is still one of my favorite sporting events of all time. it was an amazing atmosphere and a fantastic night to be a Knight! Savage's driving dunk in the 1st half just ignited the crowd.

 

[RU89]

This is still one of my favorite sporting events of all time. it was an amazing atmosphere and a fantastic night to be a Knight! Savage's driving dunk in the 1st half just ignited the crowd.

I was a senior in 89 and to this day remains my favorite sporting event. As BAC stated, the consistency of the loudness was truly something to behold. All these years later I remember turning to my twin brother and yelling……..cause you had to…..”is it even humanly possible for a sporting event to be louder”? Nothing the RAC ever produces going forward will rival it in my opinion.

 

[phlop87]

Was at the game ... Definitely the loudest/ funnest game I've ever attended. some of Dadika's 3's were so deep

 

[G- RUnit]

I go back and forth between this game and the WVU game as loudest. We still had a lot of PSU fans in the building for the PSU game. The WVU game was all RU. And I think it was the last game they allowed standing room before fire marshals put that to a halt. Still had students behind the team. The amount of people standing both sides of 118 had to be in the hundreds. Still Dadika hitting those shots…

Missouri and UNLV were fun and loud too.

 

[RUHouston]

I was in the band so had GREAT seats...that whole year was great! The game before at the Palestra was epic, too.

 

[Tango Two]

 

[e5fdny]

Everything people have told you about this game…

 

[RW90]

I can attest we students were packed in like sardines, and stood the entire game partly because there was no room to sit. There were clearly no walk-up aisles, nor fire zoning rules kept that day.

 

[dark_check]

I was a junior at RC at the time, sat in 202 with my dad for that game. Still the top of the scale for me in terms of how lit any game has been since

 

[anon_xekqhstck0ygt]

was lucky enough as a HS senior to be row 4 or 5 behind PSU bench on the isle next to their idiot fans and oh how so awesome it was to win and see them all upset. they thought a win was guaranteed and my punk 17 year old *** gave them lots of grief lol. BEST game I've ever witnesses for sure.

 

[BillyC80]

Was given a ticket in the cushy seats by a big donor who couldn’t make it. Incredible atmosphere! Lost my voice for a week.

Btw, I loved it when the student section was behind our bench. Wenzel would stand facing them and wave his arms to amp up the volume. It was nuts.

PS: The following year I bought 4 season tickets in the 200s and have had them ever since.

 

[eedouble]

An all-time classic. I remember waiting on line for hours to get tickets.

 

[Shelby65]

the greatest in game experience i have ever witnessed..of course I was just a freshmen at RU

loudest continuous and best atmosphere I have ever witnessed at the RAC

because of the reduction in capacity and because you wont have opposing teams fans given at least 20% of the seating it will never have that kind of experience again

was there too. if you're talking W/L outcomes, sure that's tough to top. But I more enjoyed the Insight Bowl game/the trip overall, the @Tennessee football game, and the NCAA tourney in Providence, all losses. The 50-49 Georgetown / Princeton game that day was also great.

 

[Fat-Tony]

I was a Junior in high school at the time. My mom and dad had season tickets. They didn't realize that they would be able to purchase their seats for the championship game. My mom got on the phone and secured 4 additoinal tickets as soon as the ticket office opened. That's how G$$ and I were lucky enough to end up at the game. G$$ secured our season tickets in 112 starting the next year and have been there ever since. In the last 30+ years, the A10 Championship game is still the loudest it has ever been - by far!

 

[anon1753890747]

Didn’t have tickets
Scalped 3 student tickets at $100 a piece
Awesome experience

 

[ruhoops21]

I was a freshman that year and they sold all of 20+ season tix to students after littlepage (we got sweatshirts that set RACPACK)...we were all behind the bench for the season. I sit in 112 now, my tix then were much better! Better than where the recruits sit. For the Penn State game, was crammed behind the basket and it was wonderful. Best memory ever!

 

[RUPete]

I go back and forth between this game and the WVU game as loudest. We still had a lot of PSU fans in the building for the PSU game. The WVU game was all RU. And I think it was the last game they allowed standing room before fire marshals put that to a halt. Still had students behind the team. The amount of people standing both sides of 118 had to be in the hundreds. Still Dadika hitting those shots…

Missouri and UNLV were fun and loud too.

Yup. Agree on WVU and I’ll throw in Cuse in 77 or 78. But just for sheer improbability and what was accomplished, PSU stands alone.

I always remember a post game interview that Bob Wenzel did after we beat URI on the road to go 15-12 to close the season on a good run. He was asked about the NIT, and he said, “NCAA is not out of the question folks, not out of the question…”

 

[Scarlet Shack]

the greatest in game experience i have ever witnessed..of course I was just a freshmen at RU

loudest continuous and best atmosphere I have ever witnessed at the RAC

because of the reduction in capacity and because you wont have opposing teams fans given at least 20% of the seating it will never have that kind of experience again

Yup…unless we expanded it right

If we expanded it right …At 9500-10000 in capacity …the place gonna be insane

 

[dark_check]

I remember being at the WVU game in ‘83 and the WVU fan base was being heckled “Jerry West says he went to Rutgers”. Funniest thing my dad said he ever heard.

 

[LETSGORU91_]

the greatest in game experience i have ever witnessed..of course I was just a freshmen at RU

loudest continuous and best atmosphere I have ever witnessed at the RAC

because of the reduction in capacity and because you wont have opposing teams fans given at least 20% of the seating it will never have that kind of experience again

We shared the same bleachers. It was an awesome game and loud as hell!

 

[BOCA93]

Freshman year. Couldn’t hear the person next to me. Unbelievable environment.

 

[bac2therac]

another wrinkle to the story was RU's futility the previous 3 seasons with a string of 8 wins seasons. That is why you saw such exuberance even though it was only 6 years since the previous NCAA, who would think after 91 it would be another 30 years to make the tourney and covid crapped on the whole process and attention we should have got

 

[RW90]

another wrinkle to the story was RU's futility the previous 3 seasons with a string of 8 wins seasons. That is why you saw such exuberance even though it was only 6 years since the previous NCAA, who would think after 91 it would be another 30 years to make the tourney and covid crapped on the whole process and attention we should have got

Not to mention everything fell into place in the A10 semis at the Palestra for RU finishing in third place to host fourth place PSU where your user handle was infamously born.

 

[e5fdny]

was there too. if you're talking W/L outcomes, sure that's tough to top. But I more enjoyed the Insight Bowl game/the trip overall, the @Tennessee football game, and the NCAA tourney in Providence, all losses. The 50-49 Georgetown / Princeton game that day was also great.

St. Patrick’s Day.

Drank so much I painted the streets of Providence in my own vomit.

 

[G- RUnit]

another wrinkle to the story was RU's futility the previous 3 seasons with a string of 8 wins seasons. That is why you saw such exuberance even though it was only 6 years since the previous NCAA, who would think after 91 it would be another 30 years to make the tourney and covid crapped on the whole process and attention we should have got

Bobsicles… Bob Wenzel coaching his alma mater. “Dream Big Dreams” Watching John Cheney combust. Really were fun times.

In RU’s rich history of atrocious hires, and granted he was a gentleman, but Craig Littlepage was the worst and set us back more than any hire in RU history.

 

[Shelby65]

St. Patrick’s Day.

Drank so much I painted the streets of Providence in my own vomit.

Speaking of which, Notre Dame played in Providence on that St. Patty’s day. Wore special unis.

 

[RC80]

The highest seeded team got home court and with the upsets, home court landed on us; which is why you couldn't get tickets in advance (at least not that I can recall) - as they do now for most tourneys. It is right there as the greatest home win.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

the greatest in game experience i have ever witnessed..of course I was just a freshmen at RU

loudest continuous and best atmosphere I have ever witnessed at the RAC

because of the reduction in capacity and because you wont have opposing teams fans given at least 20% of the seating it will never have that kind of experience again

That's fitting.. that was the famous "Back to the RAC" games (the chant started up at the Palestra as we beat... Temple?.. knowing we were the remaining high seed and the championship game would be at the RAC). I really liked that tourney at the Palestra.. you could stay in a Philly hotel or take a train. For that game, some of us who took a train found standing room on a bus for the ride back.. too late for the train. We got lucky that bus took us in. Well done whoever was running that trip for Rutgers.

As for noise level.. yeah..deafening. But a few games matched it, IMHO. Some Syracuse game.. forget which. The Waters era had some really loud games. But none could surpass.. only tie.

 

[bac2therac]

all cued up.... i love posting this

 

[bac2therac]

no piped in music...just bands and organic crowd cheers all night, I miss college atmospheres like that

also its bs our student section shrunk that much..wow

 

[BigRnj]

It was an awesome night. We could only get tickets in the 300s and our buddy Rob (owner of Cluck-U chicken) closed his restaurant for the game but had a private After-game party … beers and Cluck-U to celebrate. I brought my Dad and he wanted to go to games after that. Good times And yes constant crazy loud in-spite of the We Are‘s (psu ticket allotment).

 

[LBusDoor90_rivals]

I was a senior in 89 and to this day remains my favorite sporting event. As BAC stated, the consistency of the loudness was truly something to behold. All these years later I remember turning to my twin brother and yelling……..cause you had to…..”is it even humanly possible for a sporting event to be louder”? Nothing the RAC ever produces going forward will rival it in my opinion.

I was a junior and the win over Temple at the Palestra to get there will always be my favorite road event attended.
Seeing Chaney meltdown later at the presser….priceless.

 

[SirPerceval]

An all-time classic. I remember waiting on line for hours to get tickets.

It was early morning like (5 am?) and really freaking cold. Line stretched from the door all the way to Rockefeller Rd and RU wouldn’t let us into the RAC. At least one ambulance was called out - Never found out why and I always assumed it for someone with hypothermia. They finally opened the doors and let us wait inside.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

It was early morning like (5 am?) and really freaking cold. Line stretched from the door all the way to Rockefeller Rd and RU wouldn’t let us into the RAC. At least one ambulance was called out - Never found out why and I always assumed it for someone with hypothermia. They finally opened the doors and let us wait inside.

I got back to campus around 2 :30 Am from the student bus taking forever driving home from the Palestea in a 4 inch snow storm. And it was freaking cold thar nihht

They weee so cheap and refused to take the turnpike and pay the toll and we went up route one and took forever

 

[Big East Beast]

My sister was a Sr. at RU, brother was a frosh that year and I was a h.s. Soph in ‘89.

My brother got tickets and brought me to this game, which was my first college sporting event.

We sat in the 300s, a couple of rows from the top & I recall being scared as I made my way to the top. I couldn’t believe how loud it was and how rabid everyone was, even in the nosebleeds.

I had been a PSU/ND football fan to this point and was following Bobby Harley’s career closely as a NJ boy who “made it to the top” at Duke. They were easy to root for, because it wasn’t as easy to watch RU sports on TV in those days and the only local hoops teams I was aware of growing up were SHU/SJU.

RU hoops was literally not on the radar despite the fact that I was a sports-obsessed kid growing who never lived more than an hour from campus in three different places (Staten Island, Ocean County & Essex County) but this was the first of many moments which took place during my high school & college years where I thought, “why not Rutgers?”

I went to RU my frosh yr and one of the first football games I went to was RU-VT which was another all-time classic.

Go RU!!!

 

[e5fdny]

My sister was a Sr. at RU, brother was a frosh that year and I was a h.s. Soph in ‘89.

My brother got tickets and brought me to this game, which was my first college sporting event.

We sat in the 300s, a couple of rows from the top & I recall being scared as I made my way to the top. I couldn’t believe how loud it was and how rabid everyone was, even in the nosebleeds.

I had been a PSU/ND football fan to this point and was following Bobby Harley’s career closely as a NJ boy who “made it to the top” at Duke. They were easy to root for, because it wasn’t as easy to watch RU sports on TV in those days and the only local hoops teams I was aware of growing up were SHU/SJU.

RU hoops was literally not on the radar despite the fact that I was a sports-obsessed kid growing who never lived more than an hour from campus in three different places (Staten Island, Ocean County & Essex County) but this was the first of many moments which took place during my high school & college years where I thought, “why not Rutgers?”

I went to RU my frosh yr and one of the first football games I went to was RU-VT which was another all-time classic.

Go RU!!!

And that’s how we get you.