Northwestern's upset bid comes up short in OT at No. 2 Purdue

Northwestern left it all on the floor in a 105-96 overtime loss at No. 2 Purdue.

Well, almost. Head coach Chris Collins left the game a little early.

In a game where Purdue took 46 free throws to Northwestern's eight, and suspect calls abounded, Collins waited until the game was in Purdue's hands with 1.7 seconds left to storm onto the court and into the referee's face, earning a double-technical and an ejection for his tirade.

"I'm not going to go into the officiating," said Collins. "We have great officiating. I'm just not sure if I've ever seen a box score like that. I don't know if you've ever seen a disparity like that in a Big Ten game."

Before Collins' well-earned heave-ho, the Wildcats were phenomenal at Mackey Arena, one of the toughest places to play in the nation. Boo Buie and Ty Berry poured in 25 points apiece and combined to hit 13-of-20 3-pointers. Three other Wildcats scored in double digits.

The Wildcats had a shot to win the game at the end of regulation, but Buie's floater in the late bounced off the front of the rim, and the Boilers outscored the Wildcats 24-15 in the extra period.

Purdue star big man Zach Edey was held to just six points in the first half but finished with 30 when all was said and done, even though he made just 8-of-17 free throws. It was Purdue's guards that did a lot of the damage, as Lance Jones finished with 26 points and Braden Smith had a remarkable 16 assists against just two turnovers.

Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's near-upset in West Lafayette:

Purdue had a major home-court advantage: Collins always rides the refs during games, but he was in rare form for a reason on Wednesday night.

There is normally a reasonable difference between the number of foul shots for Purdue and their opponents as Edey deters paint scoring and simultaneously pushes defenders to their limit on the other end.

But 38 more free throws is absolutely outlandish and Collins made sure the officials knew it. One of the most egregious calls came in the game's final moments when, up by three points, Purdue's Lance Jones was trapped in a corner and hooked his way past Nick Martinelli on the baseline, stumbling into the sophomore forward and drawing a blocking call that looked like it should have been an offensive foul, or at least out of bounds.

The route to victory would hardly have been easy for the Wildcats with just nine seconds on the clock at that point, but the difference between a baseline inbounds for the Wildcats and two free throws for Jones decided the game.

Collins' theatrics were followed by quickly calming down to shake Purdue coach Matt Painter's hand, dapping up Edey and hyping up the Purdue student section. Three Wildcats fouled out of the game as Northwestern more than doubled Purdue's fouls, 31-15.

Collins knew how hard his team fought and wasn't afraid to support them by going after the officials. The Wildcats are the only team to take Purdue to overtime at Mackey this season; the Boilermakers are yet to lose on their home court.

Northwestern's backcourt keeps delivering: As Purdue threw everything they had at him, Buie came through once more. Not only did he score 25, but the backcourt quartet of Buie, Berry, Brooks Barnhizer and Ryan Langborg combined to score 76 of Northwestern's 96 points.

Time and again those four stepped up to go blow for blow with one of the heaviest of this country's heavyweights. They played, on average, 39.5 minutes tonight while shouldering the load offensively.

The workload that each of those guards takes on each night is impressive. All four players average 10+ points in 30+ minutes per game. Their increased consistency and chemistry is making this team tougher and tougher to beat.

Buie sank a remarkable 7-of-11 3-pointers, though he also finished with an uncharacteristic four turnovers against eight assists. Berry made 6-of-9 shots from long distance.

And, as ridiculous as it seems, the Wildcats also did a commendable job rotating and denying the ball defensively. This is a Top 2 team in the country that you can all but pencil in for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and the Wildcats pushed them to overtime after beating them in December.

The Wildcats ran a gauntlet: Collins was quick to note postgame that the Wildcats are now 15-6 (6-4 Big Ten), having completed, and split, their series with both Purdue and Illinois, not to mention road games at conference-leading Wisconsin and Herculean-at-home Nebraska.

So three of NU's four conference losses are to teams in the Top 15, with three coming on the road. This Wildcat team is fearless, experienced and ready to walk in anywhere and take anyone to the brink.

While realizing that, as Collins endlessly says, no Big Ten game is easy, and it's especially tough to win on the road, Northwestern is in a good spot in their schedule. After facing such a gauntlet, the Wildcats are halfway through their Big Ten schedule at 6-4 and have no ranked opponents remaining. They are undefeated at Welsh-Ryan Arena in conference play and have the chance to run the table on their home court.

While Wednesday night's loss stings, the road ahead looks promising for the Wildcats.