It may not have been pretty, but the third time was the charm for the Purdue men’s basketball team when it came to knocking off Northwestern.
Backed by 46 free throw attempts and 30 points from reigning National Player of the Year Zach Edey,
Purdue escaped with a 105-96 overtime win over
Northwestern at Mackey Arena Wednesday night after dropping the last two meetings to the Wildcats.
The game featured moments of craziness in the final seconds, as Northwestern head coach Chris Collins was ejected after storming the court to get on officials, and Boo Buie also received a technical. Purdue’s Mason Gillis drilled four free throws to cement the win. The four free throws from Gillis were 29 of the made shots out of the 46 attempts from the line for the game, something that Northwestern coach Chris Collins voiced issue with in his post game comments with the media.
“I am not going to go into the officiating. We have great officiating. I just don’t know if I’ve seen a box score like that. I don’t know if you’ve seen a disparity like that in a Big Ten game. Obviously, we’re fouling that much, but I feel like we’re aggressive too. Boo Buie doesn’t shoot a free throw. That’s kind of crazy, but that’s how the game is called,” said Collins, who saw his team go 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
For Purdue head coach Matt Painter, the fact that his Boilermakers got to the free throw line that much, was the difference. Despite missing 12 free throws in the second half, the Boilermakers were 11-of-13 from the charity stripe in overtime.
“The thing for us was trying to keep our morale up because they made some tough shots, but we did positive things and then we missed free throws. What should we run here? Keep doing what you’re doing, keep positive and keep playing,” Painter said.
That mindset worked for the Boilermakers, who had to use late game heroics. The heroics came from the likes of Lance Jones and Edey.
Trailing by five with 2:37 remaining, Jones drilled a three pointer that changed the momentum and Edey went on a tear to force the game to an extra period after Buie missed a floater at the buzzer.
In the extra period, it was all Edey, who scored the first 10 points and hammered down four dunks. A three pointer by Fletcher Loyer would stretch the lead to 96-90.
“Very fortunate to win. Boo Buie makes that seven, eight out of 10 times, that floater. That’s his. He’s not taking a shot that he’s average at. He’s one of the best intermediate shooters in college basketball. Our attention to detail wasn’t very good. Give them credit, they were really good,” Painter said.
In addition to Edey’s production, Jones poured in 26 points, including five three pointers. Braden Smith dished out 16 assists, while Gillis finished with 14 points and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the line.
For Northwestern, Buie hit seven three pointers en route to 25 points.
