How NJIT went from the worst team in college basketball to stunning Michigan ...

NJIT Fabulous First Years - 2014

Jim Engles hugged the sportswriter in the locker room, which is always a pretty good sign that you"re desperate for a victory. And, well, the word desperate doesn"t really even begin to sum it up that night in January 2009.

His NJIT Highlanders had not won a college basketball game in 702 days, a record 51 straight losses, and the Engles had heard the whispers around college basketball. NJIT was never very good as a Division 2 program. What in the world were they thinking moving up to Division 1?

So finally, on that cold night in Newark, Engles tasted victory with a win over Bryant University, and his speech sounded like a clip of Knute Rockne. You want the definition of a winner? he told his team, his voice cracking with emotion. You are! You deserve this! Now you know what the feeling is like!

I thought about that scene on Saturday afternoon as the Big Ten Network cameras kept flashing to Engles, the picture of poise, as he coached those Highlanders in their latest supposedly impossible test against No. 17 Michigan. If you didn"t know any better, you would have thought the Highlanders were the team with all the talent and the Final Four potential, and not the mighty Wolverines.

If you didn"t know any better, watching them hit 58.7 percent of their shots and have twice as many assists (16 to 8) as their big-name opponent, you would"ve thought they were the ones with the limitless ceiling.

And that, of course, is the way Engles wanted it. His team, just 2-5 on the season and coming off a loss to Massachusetts-Lowell, had come to Ann Arbor and left with a 72-70 victory the most stunning result in the young college basketball season and one that likely won"t be topped.

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Maybe it"s hope for Rutgers, who will be playing that same Michigan team as part of its inaugural Big Ten season, but it"s hard to feel much of that after Seton Hall buried the Scarlet Knights, 81-54, in Newark.

Mostly, you just feel good for the little guy. NJIT was 13-16 a year ago, 16-13 the year before that, always the team that fills out the December schedule for the big-name teams. Always the line in the schedule checked off as a W months before the ball is even tipped.

Not this time. Not with Damon Lynn scoring 20 points and hitting a huge 3-pointer with less than three minutes left. Not with Willis Winfield and Ky Howard each scoring 17 points as the Highlanders made 11 of 17 shots from behind the arc.

Not with Engles smartly doing what so many coaches won"t do and fouling with a three-point lead and four seconds to play, taking the potential of an upset-ruining 3 from Michigan out of the equation.

The buzzer sounded and Crisler Arena went silent, other than the celebrating Highlanders. Engles looked dazed as he shook hands with John Beilein, a former Division 2 coach who probably could appreciate the moment from the other perspective.

NJIT, a program that once lost 51-straight games, had beaten mighty Michigan. You want the definition of a winner? Engles asked his team that night six years ago. Sometimes, you find it where you least expect it.

Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Source: http://www.nj.com/rutgersbasketball/index.ssf/2014/12/how_njit_went_from_the_worst_team_in_college_basketball_to_stunning_michigan_politi.html