Despite an upcoming clash between Top 10 squads at the weekend, Purdue is focused on its midweek warm-up match against an unranked adversary.
No. 2 Purdue gets the opportunity to avenge one of its two losses this season on Wednesday as it hosts Northwestern in West Lafayette, Ind. Only after that will it shift its focus to a road showdown against No. 6 Wisconsin on Sunday.
On December 1, Purdue, then the top-ranked team in the country, suffered a surprising 92-88 overtime loss to Northwestern on the road.
The Boilermakers (19-2, 8-2 Big Ten) are eager to make amends for that defeat, as well as a 64-58 loss to the Wildcats last season when Purdue was also ranked No. 1.
Since their unexpected 88-72 defeat to Nebraska on January 9, Purdue has rebounded with a five-game winning streak, culminating in a 68-60 victory at Rutgers on Sunday, with Zach Edey scoring 26 points to become the sixth player in program history to reach 2,000 points. He now has 2,017.
Edey also grabbed 12 rebounds for his 53rd career double-double, just one off Terry Dischinger‘s program record.
Additionally, the 7-foot-4 Wooden Award winner notched four blocked shots. Despite that, Purdue was outrebounded 36-32 by Rutgers and committed 15 turnovers.
“I just didn’t think we were physical enough in getting them out of there,” said Purdue head coach Matt Painter. “When you’re sitting there playing volleyball at the rim, and you’re tapping the basketball, that happened a handful of times. Zach kind of saves the day for us just because of his elite size.”
In the defeat to Northwestern, Purdue’s one standout performance was in rebounding, where they had a 52-27 advantage on the boards and a 16-5 advantage in offensive rebounds. Northwestern (15-5, 6-3) forced Purdue into 17 turnovers while committing just three during their January encounter.
Following a loss at Nebraska on January 20, the Wildcats bounced back with a 96-91 overtime win at home against then-No. 10 Illinois and a commanding 83-58 victory at home over Ohio State on Saturday.
Boo Buie scored 19 points and provided five assists against Ohio State, while Ryan Langborg contributed 14 points. Lafayette native Brooks Barnhizer scored 11 points with six assists and has maintained an average of 14.7 points this season.
Buie leads the team with an average of 18.5 points and has moved into third place in program history with 1,911 career points, on the verge of surpassing second-place Drew Crawford (1,920 from 2010-14).
While Purdue acknowledges Northwestern’s capabilities, the Wildcats are still establishing themselves as a new force in the Big Ten.
“They’re an excellent team, we’re aware of that,” said Northwestern head coach Chris Collins about Purdue. “We’ve had two incredibly hard-fought games against them, here at (home). (The win) in early December feels like an eternity ago.”
“… A lot of people would say they’re the best team in the country. And playing in Mackey Arena is special. That environment is awesome. We know it will be a tough challenge and I think our guys will be excited for it.”
