Northwestern Killer B’s and Langborg down #1 Purdue in overtime

Northwestern Killer B’s and Langborg down #1 Purdue in overtime

by Steven Stremming/Excel H Sports/United States Basketball Writers Association

What started as the newly named number one Men’s basketball team in the country, Purdue, taking on the Northwestern Wildcats in Welsh-Ryan Arena turned into a battle of attrition for Northwestern, as the defending national player of the year, Zach Edey, dominated inside early and often forcing the Cats Bigs into early foul trouble, that would be a theme of the whole game.

The game which went into overtime, started off with a Fletcher Loyer made basket and then Purdue would lead for three seconds shy of 29 minutes for the game, including a seven-point outburst midway in the first half.

Northwestern was not to be outdone though, as they fought back with tenacious defense, led by Brooks Barnhizer, Lafayette, Indiana.

Barnhizer worked the double downs on Edey with perfection while in the game causing some Boiler miscues that put the Wildcats smack back in the middle of the game.

Edey was phenomenal as the hit ten of seventeen shots from the field, fifteen of twenty charity stripes, pulled down fourteen rebounds, which five were offensive and blocked three shots and drew 15 Northwestern fouls.

Photo by: Tony Harper/Excel H Sports/Indiana Sports Network

Homestead High School product, Fletcher Loyer would score 17 points on the night while Westfield, Indiana’s Braden Smith flirted with yet another triple double, as he scored twelve points, snared seven rebounds and assisted on nine buckets but he did turn the ball over six times in the game.

Lance Jones fouled out of the game but tallied ten points on eighteen attempts.

Productive efforts came from New Castle, Indiana’s Mason Gillis, who by the way, forced overtime with a perfectly placed pass to Edey to force the overtime. Gillis also collected six rebounds during his 28 minutes plus effort.

Camden Heide and Caleb Furst were both effective on the boards, as Furst recorded six and Heide four.

But this night in the end belonged to the Killer B’s, yes, Daniel Richard (Boo) Buie, Ty Berry and the aforementioned Brooks Barnhizer. Buie showed why he is considered one of the best guards not only in the B1G but the country, as he poured in 31 points, nine assists, four boards and zero, yes zero turnovers in 43:05 minutes of floor time. When the Cats needed a big basket, Boo delivered.

Ty Berry shook off some early season struggles as he scored 21 points with a solid shooting line that included, seven of eleven from the traditional two-point variety, three of five behind the arc and a four for four night from the charity stripe. Berry had only two turnovers in over thirty-four minutes of floor time and before we add the other member of the Killer B’s, Princeton transfer, Ryan Langborg scored twenty points on seven of thirteen from the floor and four of five behind the arc. Langborg hit big shot after big shot all night for Northwestern.

The last member of the B’s, Lafayette Indiana’s Brooks Barnhizer.

Barnhizer’s court awareness was clearly on display with deft double teaming, defensive angles and a willingness to mix it up on the boards. Brooks’ night would end with eight points, five rebounds and a solid defensive performance.

Another key item for the Wildcats in their overtime win, was the fact that they have three Bigs who gave up their own stats to guard Edey. They were Matthew Nicholson, Blake Preston and Luke Hunger.

For the game, the story was turnovers, Purdue committed 17 turnovers while Northwestern tallied only three. Purdue recorded 52 rebounds to Northwestern’s 27. Northwestern handed out 22 team assists while the Boilers recorded 15. Northwestern recorded eight team steals to Purdue’s one.

Attendance at Welsh-Ryan was a sellout with 7,039.

the following credit source is Purdue University Athletics

Northwestern 92, #1 Purdue 88 (Postgame Notes) 

• No. 1-ranked Purdue fell to 7-1 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten Conference with a 92-88 overtime loss at Northwestern. Purdue is now 13-6 under head coach Matt Painter in Big Ten opener, suffering its first loss in a league opener since the 2018-19 season at Michigan.
• Purdue has now been court-stormed in eight of its last nine road losses dating to the 2021-22 season (Indiana 2x, Northwestern 2x, Rutgers, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maryland).
• Purdue’s last nine road losses since the 2021-22 season have come by 2 (Rutgers), 3 (Indiana), 24 (Michigan), 3 (Michigan State), 3 (Wisconsin), 5 (Indiana), 6 (Northwestern), 14 (Maryland) and 4 in overtime (Northwestern).
• Purdue saw a 10-game winning streak in the month of December end, dating to Dec. 2021.
• Purdue saw a 53-game win streak end when scoring at least 80 points, dating to Dec. 2018. The Boilermakers are 75-3 since the start of the 2017-18 season when scoring 80 or more points.
• Purdue suffered its first loss ever when outrebounding a team by 25 rebounds. Purdue outrebounded Northwestern, 52-27.
• Zach Edey recorded his 45^th career double-double with 35 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. The effort was his ninth 30-10 game in his last 41 contests and sixth in the last 21 regular-season Big Ten contests.
• Edey now has nine 30-10 games, six more than the next players on the active 30-10 list (Norchad Omier, Drew Pember). His nine 30-10 games are the most for a Big Ten player since the 2010-11 season (Luka Garza – 5).
• Edey’s nine 30-point games are tied for the sixth most in school history with Carsen Edwards (2017-19).
• Edey’s 35 points gave him 1,721 career points, moving him past Chad Austin (14^th), Todd Mitchell (13^th), Glenn Robinson (12^th), Keith Edmonson (11^th) and Robbie Hummel (10^th) into 10^th on Purdue’s career scoring list.
• His 14 rebounds gave him 936 career rebounds, moving past A.J. Hammons into third on the career rebounds list at Purdue.
• Braden Smith narrowly missed his second straight double-double with 12 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Over the last three games, Smith is averaging 16.3 points, 8.0 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game.
• Fletcher Loyer tallied 17 points, making 3-of-5 from long range, and is now averaging 14.8 points per game over the last four contests.