PISCATAWAY -- The home bench cleared and the crowd went bonkers, and for just a moment on Saturday afternoon inside the Rutgers Athletic Center, it felt the way March is supposed to feel in a college basketball arena.

It felt like it does in Lexington, or in Chapel Hill, or -- and this last one is especially relevant for the Scarlet Knights now -- in Evanston, Ill., during this most wonderful time of year. It was a mix of emotion and excitement and hope for what is coming around the corner, even if the home team has a country mile to travel before it makes that turn.

Still: You can see the corner, at least, for this basketball program. The Scarlet Knights stunned an Illinois team with NCAA Tournament hopes on a late Deshawn Freeman 3-pointer, and no, this 62-59 win alone isn't enough to believe meaningful March basketball is coming again to the RAC.

But the overall season?

That has to give any long-suffering Rutgers fan hope that the arrow is pointing up, because the foundation first-year head coach Steve Pikiell set in 2016-17 is worth celebrating.

"If this place is rocking right now and we finished 14th in the conference, I can only imagine what it would be like if we were right in the middle of the mix," senior center C.J. Gettys said. "That would be something to see."

Gettys knows because he did see it. He watched in unfold on TV last week, when Northwestern stunned Michigan on a last-second heave and layup to wrap up* its first NCAA Tournament bid in school history.

* We'll add the asterisk for any Northwestern graduate who won't believe that the Wildcats are in the field until his or her alma mater shows up in a bracket on Selection Sunday. Hey, no one wants to jinx this thing.

If Northwestern can steal an at-large bid after 77 unsuccessful attempts, then Rutgers can do the same after its own 26-year (and counting) drought. That was the message that Northwestern head coach Chris Collins himself delivered to the Scarlet Knights after a Feb. 18 game between the two teams.

"He brought us to the side and said, 'Keep listening to Coach Pikiell, keep fighting, because you're in the same situation that we were in two years ago,'" guard Corey Sanders said. "That was great words from him. We're going to keep fighting and hopefully we'll be that team next year."

Not to stick a pin in the balloon, but ... the Scarlet Knights aren't going to be that team next year unless something remarkable happens this summer. A team doesn't go from 14-17 overall and 3-15 in the Big Ten in one season and then reach the tournament the next.

This is going to take time. This is going to take more victories on the recruiting trail for Pikiell. Rutgers has taken the step from bad to respectable before, and that step is far easier than the leap from respectable to a Selection Sunday party in Piscataway.

But this team is completely unrecognizable from a season ago when it gave up 110 points in triple overtime against this same Illinois team, and when 30-point blowouts were far more likely than the gut-wrenching three- and four- and six-point losses.

A year ago, with the game tied on the final play, there is little doubt that Sanders would have driven to the hoop and forced a wild shot. This time, he passed to an open Freeman, and while the power forward had only made five 3-pointers all season, he had the confidence to hoist one with a victory in sight.

"I'm proud of how far we've come," Pikiell said. "We're not the most talented team in the league, so we've come a long way in chemistry, we've come a long way in team defense, we've come a long way in rebounding."

Pikiell will have this entire roster back for next season with the exception of Gettys, a stopgap front court player who became a fan favorite. He will need to replace his center, continue to develop promising young wing players like Issa Thiam and find anybody who can shoot the @%#*! basketball.

The most important wins and losses will take place in the high school gymnasiums and living rooms now. Can Pikiell convince the next level of recruit to buy into what he was building? Given the history in Piscataway, you are forgiven if you wait and see before answering that one.

At least his team gave everyone a glimpse of what this time of year might feel like if this program does turn that corner. Because, if the RAC can rock like that for the 14th place team in the Big Ten, imagine how it might feel in a March moment that matters.

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