MORE ON THE GAME: Lightning strikes twice as Northwestern upsets No. 1 Purdue

EVANSTON-Zach Edey is the reigning college player of the year and generally regarded as the best player in the country.

On Friday night, Boo Buie announced that he should be included in the discussion, too – with his actions and his words.

Buie had one of the greatest performances in the 119-year history of Northwestern basketball — 31 points, nine assists and no turnovers — as the Wildcats, for the second year in a row, knocked off No. 1 Purdue, 92-88, in overtime at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Edey did his part, scoring 35 points and grabbing 14 rebounds to lead everyone in all categories. But it was Buie who led his team to the win.

Time after time, when the Wildcats needed a basket, they went to No. 0. He fearlessly drove to the rim with Edey in the lane. He hit teardrops over defenders. He drilled 3s from close to the N logo at halfcourt. He got to the foul line 10 times and hit nine of them.

And after the game, the 6-foot-2 point guard wasn’t afraid to put himself in the 7-foot-4 Edey’s company at the top of college basketball.

“You watched the two best players in college basketball,” he said in a BTN on-court interview.

So much for speaking softly. Buie’s words spoke as loudly as his game.

When told of Buie’s comment after the game, Northwestern head coach Chris Collins chuckled while drinking from a bottle of water.

“Humble,” he said with a smile.

It’s important for a point guard to have that kind of confidence in himself. Collins said that Buie “thrives on it.” But it takes a whole new level of chutzpah to say it on television.

Buie was a little more circumspect and not quite as brash after the game. When asked about his statement, he explained that he believes he’s at Edey’s level too.

“I just feel like I’m one of the better players in the league, and the country,” he said. Fair enough.

A fatigued Purdue head coach Matt Painter, who has now watched Northwestern students storm the court twice at the Boilermakers’ expense, wouldn’t argue. He said flatly that Buie was the difference in the game.

“Hats off to him,” said Painter. “He was magnificent. He was great.”

Both coaches thought that Buie not turning the ball over once while playing 43 of 45 minutes and running the Wildcats’ offense was his most impressive feat.

“Boo was just sensational,” said Collins. “Forget about the 31 points. But nine assists and no turnovers, when they’re trying to do everything to stop him.”

Buie had a lot of help, of course. His backcourt mates, Ty Berry and Ryan Langborg, combined for 41 points and together hit 7-of-10 threes. The three of them spearheaded a Wildcat offense that erased an eight-point halftime deficit and went toe-to-toe with the Boilers deep into the night.

But at the end of the game, Collins eschewed a timeout with less than 30 seconds left and just let Buie go to work because “all I would do was draw up a play to put the ball in his hands.”

So Buie calmly dribbled the ball to the left side of the logo at center court before he drove downhill and pulled up in the lane to hit one of his patented floaters with 3.9 seconds left.

Now it was Edey’s turn, and, not to be outdone, he delivered, too. The Boilers lobbed an inbounds pass up to him near the rim, and he grabbed it over Blake Preston and banked it home at the buzzer to tie the game at 76 and force overtime.

That was what the game was like for most of the second half. One team would “throw a haymaker,” as Collins put it, and the other team would answer. In all, there were 18 lead changes.

In overtime, Buie scored seven points to lead the Wildcats to the victory, while Edey managed four for the Boilers.

Collins heaped praise on both players.

Edey, he noted, fouled out Northwestern centers Matt Nicholson and Luke Hunger. Preston, the last Northwestern big man barely standing, had four fouls at the end of the game. In all, Edey made 15 of 20 free throws.

“That guy is an incredible, incredible college player,” said Collins, who called Edey as dominant a force as he's seen in all his years in the college game.

As for his own man, Collins didn’t want to judge where Buie stands among the game’s elite. He said simply, “Whether he’s the best player or not, I wouldn’t trade him.”

Then the coach made an apt judgment.

“You take Boo off the floor, I think it would be a similar impact as taking Edey off the floor.”

Collins called the fifth-year guard’s performance against Purdue, “as good as any Northwestern player has had in my time here,” which dates to 2013.

Maybe he was just getting tired, but Buie declined to rank where this game fell among his best performances as a Wildcat.

“I’m just out there competing, man,” he said. “I played a lot of games in my career.”

But not many like that one.