Last weekend, the Purdue basketball team achieved the goal of picking up its first win at Rutgers for the first time since 2018.
While the win was nice, coach Matt Painter found plenty of things to be unhappy about, namely turnovers and a lack of rebounding. The same two things cost Purdue a shot at knocking off Northwestern in the Big Ten opener for both programs earlier this season. The same two things will be atop the white board heading into tonight’s game at Mackey Arena against the Wildcats.
The Boilermakers (19-2, 7-2) know just how dangerous Northwestern (15-5, 6-3) can be, as the Wildcats have knocked Purdue off the last two times they’ve met. Northwestern heads into tonight’s game winners of its last two, having knocked off Illinois and Ohio State.
Boiler Wire takes a look at three keys for the Boilers to pick up a win tonight.
Purdue Needs to Stop Boo Buie
Everyone knows all about Zach Edey and what he brings to Purdue, but Northwestern has their own Zach Edey like player in Boo Buie. In the first game in December, Buie scored 31 points, seven of which came in overtime. In addition to the points, Buie came through with nine assists and four rebounds.
“He’s magical when he gets it going. We’ve seen that back to back games. You have to make it difficult for him. He’s got shotmakers with him. He is no doubt the leader of that group,” Painter said of Buie.
Buie will not be intimidated tonight inside Mackey Arena and if he can get his teammates going early in the contest, look out. Purdue needs to find a way to limit Buie offensively, but more importantly, Purdue has to take the game right at Buie when he is on the defensive end and look to get him in some foul trouble.
Purdue Needs to Rebound
It has been a constant theme and is again tonight — Purdue has to rebound the basketball on both ends of the floor. Of course, Edey is going to get his, but it will take a total team effort tonight on the glass to give the Boilermakers an edge. Northwestern averages 30 rebounds a contest, while Purdue averages 41 rebounds. The stats are in favor of Purdue, but the Boilermakers need to go out and get the job done tonight to set the tone.
Purdue Needs to Protect the Basketball
17. That is the number of times Purdue turned the ball over in the first meeting against Northwestern. That is about 17 more times than Matt Painter wants to see tonight. He knows any chance of watching his team win tonight starts and ends with Purdue’s ability to protect the basketball.
“I think that’s where it starts for us, getting quality shots and getting quality possessions and not turning the ball over. Give credit to Northwestern and their defense,” Painter said.
Turnovers have been an issue as of late for Purdue, as they committed 15 turnovers at Rutgers the last time out.
“First and foremost for us, especially coming off the last game we played. We were fortunate to win the game with that many turnovers.
The argument can be made that Northwestern is better than Rutgers and plays better defense than the Scarlet Knights. Purdue has no choice but to be strong with and protect the basketball.
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