BOILERS SURVIVE SHAKEY SHOOTING FROM LINE TO WIN.
written by: Shawn Martin/Excel H Sports
photos by: Tony Harper/Excel H Sports/Indiana Sports Network
videographer: Cainan Harper/Excel H Sports
West Lafayette, Indiana – Purdue hit 11 of 13 free throws in the five-minute overtime period and beat a feisty Northwestern team 105-96 in front of 14,800 in Mackey Arena Wednesday night. The last four were hit by Mason Gillis as a result of two technical fouls – one on Wildcat coach Chris Collins and the other on Northwestern star Boo Buie – with 1.7 left on the clock.
It marred the end of a terrific and entertaining game.
Both teams shot incredibly well from the field – especially from beyond the three-point arc.
Purdue and Northwestern combined to hit 24 of 48 three-point shots in the game! The Boilermakers shot 57.9% on all their field goal attempts, Northwestern shot 57.6%.
Two glaring stats though – both from the charity stripe – tell the tale of this game.
The top ranked Boilers (ExcelHSports.com) shot 46 free throws in the 45 minutes of the game. Northwestern (23rd ranked ExcelHSports) shot only eight (8). Wildcat senior guard Ty Berry hit three free throws with 37 seconds left in regulation, which put Northwestern up 81-80. Those were just the 3rd, 4th, and 5th free throws of the game for Northwestern.
That probably had a lot to do with Collins being ejected in the closing seconds of the game. After getting in a few last comments towards the officials, he beelined and congratulated Purdue Coach Matt Painter and Zach Edey, before heading up the tunnel.
Purdue – the nation’s first team to reach 20 wins this season – started strong with a driving layup from sophomore point guard Braden Smith and a three by grad transfer Lance Jones, which ignited the sellout Mackey Arena crowd.
Berry answered with the first of his six made threes a minute 46 into the game. He would join Buie to lead Northwestern in scoring, evenly splitting fifty of the Wildcats 96 points.
Lafayette Jeff graduate Brooks Barnhizer made a layup to give Northwestern its first lead of the game, 19-17, with 11:05 left in the first half. Barnhizer would finish with 14 points.
Berry made a jumper with 8:12 left in the half to put the Wildcats up 25-21. They would not score again for 3:25. Purdue’s 12-0 spurt put them up 33-25 and the crowd sensed blood in the water and expected their team to pounce and pull away.
Smith’s two free throws with 4:08 left gave Purdue its biggest lead of 11 points. Boilermakers would lead by 8 at halftime.
Trey Kaufman-Renn scored five straight Boilermaker points in a little over a minute – his only points – and Purdue led 53-48 early in the second half.
The free throw woes really took hold in the second half. Purdue connected on only six of 17 shots from the charity stripe during that twenty-minute period.
In the 21 games before this one, the Boilers were shooting 72.4% as a team from the free throw line – on average, hitting 17.5 of 24 attempts every game. Among the best numbers in all of college basketball.
The struggles at the line – notably from reigning National Player of the Year Zach Edey – allowed Northwestern to remain close despite the free throw discrepancy.
Part of Northwestern’s gameplan involved being very physical with the 7-foot 4-inch 300 pound Canadian. Edey effectively fouled out three Wildcat players and drew fouls on others. Almost all were obvious and somewhat intended. Edey hit only eight of 17 free throws in the game (he is a normal 74% shooter from the line). His ineffectiveness from the line allowed the physical strategy to be successful in this game.
Coming out of the final media timeout of regulation with 3:46 left, Gillis hit two free throws to tie the score at 73. A half minute later Buie nailed a three. Barnhizer followed with a layup with 2:37 left and the sellout black and gold clad fans had a nervous tension come over them.
Their team was down five and things were looking bleak. Could Northwestern pull the upset again?
Enter Jones stage right.
Smith found the speedy Evanston, Illinois product – Northwestern is located in Evanston – and the crowd-pleasing Jones hit a three that raised the decibel level inside Mackey to deafening heights. In fact, the decibel numbers were the highest ever in Mackey.
Forty-five seconds later, Edey rebounded a Smith miss and dunked the Boilers back into a tie at 78 apiece.
Berry’s three free throws put them up one. Edey – somewhat ironically – hit one of two with 15 seconds left in regulation to tie the score at 81. Purdue forced a Buie miss at the buzzer of regulation. A shot he hits with a 78% efficiency.
In the overtime period the teams traded baskets and free throws the first minute. Berry scored his last points with 2:55 left on a three that tied the score at 87.
Over the next 30 seconds, Edey followed with two emphatic dunks – both assisted by Smith. Smith hit a driving layup with 1:44 left, and Purdue was up 93-87.
Barnhizer kept the Wildcats in the game with a traditional three-point play with 1:33 left. Northwestern would not quit.
Fletcher Loyer iced the game with a three with 39 seconds left and the Boilers led 96-90.
Purdue led 101-96 after Jones hit two freebies with 0.9 ticks left. After a missed Buie 3, the game ended on the four Gillis free throws and an uncontested inbounds.
Purdue (20-2, 9-2) plays at Wisconsin – who is currently 1st in the B1G – on Sunday. The Wildcats (15-6, 6-4) are at Minnesota on Saturday.
Both teams placed five in double figures. Purdue had Edey with another standard Double-Double 30 points (ten in overtime) and 15 rebounds. Smith also carded a Double-Double including 16 assists. Jones had 26, Loyer 15, and Gillis 14. In addition to the Killer B’s – Buie, Berry, Barnhizer – Ryan Langborg had 12 and Nick Martinelli added 11 for the Wildcats.
Purdue MBB Players Post-Game Press Conference After 105-96 OT Win vs. Northwestern (youtube.com)
(The following is credit sourced to Purdue University Athletics)
- Purdue improved to 20-2 overall and 9-2 in the Big Ten Conference with a 105-96 overtime victory over Northwestern.
- Purdue became the first team in the country to reach 20 victories. A year ago, Purdue was the first high-major program to reach 20 wins.
- The Boilermakers snapped a two-game losing streak to Northwestern and won for the seventh straight time at home against the Wildcats. Purdue is now 45-6 all-time against Northwestern in Mackey Arena.
- The last four games with Northwestern have been determined by six, six, four (OT) and nine (OT) points.
- Purdue has now won six straight games overall, all of them coming by at least eight points.
- Purdue has won 12 straight home games, the longest streak in the Big Ten. During the 12-game streak, Purdue has won by a total of 284 points (23.7 points per game).
- The win was Purdue’s 13th quad-1 or quad-2 victory, the most in the nation by three wins.
- Purdue’s 105 points were its most in a Big Ten game since scoring 107 against Rutgers on Jan. 18, 2016.
- The 201 combined points were the most in a game during the Matt Painter era and the most since Nov. 14, 1997, vs. LIU Brooklyn (W, 119-95).
- Over the last two years, Purdue is now 41-3 during the months of November, December and January.
- Purdue averaged 1.46 points / possession, the fourth-best total in school history.
- Purdue has won 119 straight games when scoring 90 or more points, dating to Nov. 26, 1987, vs. Iowa State.
- Zach Edey scored 30 points with 15 rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot. It marked his 13th career 30-10 game, the second most for a player nationally since the 2010-11 season (21 by South Dakota State’s Mike Daum).
- Edey’s nine career 25-15 games are the most for a high-major player in the last 15 years. Trayce Jackson-Davis and Oscar Tshiebwe had six each for second on the list.
- Edey moved into fifth place on the school’s all-time career scoring list with 2,047 points. Dave Schellhase is fourth at 2,074 points.
- Edey surpassed 1,100 career rebounds and now has 1,102 rebounds. He moved past Michigan State’s Draymond Green into seventh place on the Big Ten’s all-time rebounds list (1,102).
- Edey set a school record by scoring in double figures for the 73rd straight game.
- Edey tied a school record with his 54th career double-double.
- Edey is now averaging 23.4 points, 11.6 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.7 assists per game in all games played. In Big Ten play, Edey is averaging 24.8 points, 13.5 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.8 assists per game, shooting 66.0 percent from the field.
- Braden Smith recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points, 16 assists and four rebounds.
- His 16 assists in a Big Ten game are tied for the most by a player in the last 15 years. The 16 assists are the second most by a Purdue player in school history and the most for a Boilermaker in the last 49 years. The 16 assists are the fourth most by a player in the country this year.
- Smith now has five games of 10 or more assists, the third-most 10-assist games by a Boilermaker in school history.
- In 11 Big Ten games, Smith is now averaging 10.3 points, 8.5 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game.
- Lance Jones’ 26 points were a season high. Jones now has 1,794 career points. Jones went 5-of-7 from 3-point range.
- Fletcher Loyer went 3-of-5 from 3-point range and is now shooting 23-of-45 (.511) from 3-point range in Big Ten Conference play.
- Mason Gillis scored 14 points, making all eight of his free throw attempts. He also made two 3-pointers and Purdue is 34-4 when he makes multiple 3-pointers.
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