Northwestern continued its undefeated start to its season with a 60-52 win over Purdue-Fort Wayne on Friday night.

The Wildcats picked up their fourth win, their third at Welsh-Ryan, behind a staunch defense that outlasted streaky shooting. Point guard Boo Buie became the 39th Wildcat to break 1,000 points in the purple and white, and he led all scorers with 28 points in the game.

Buie willed the Wildcats to the win. It looked like Northwestern would cruise to a win when they had a 48-36 lead with 8:47 remaining, but Fort Wayne cut the lead down to one point, 53-52, with under three minutes to go. Then Buie stepped in.

In the final 2:40 of the game, Buie was the only one to score. He secured Northwestern's lead with a tough floater in traffic to stifle the Mastodon run, and followed it with a pull-up three to push the lead to six. Two free throws with fewer than 30 seconds remaining iced the game and set the game's final score.

"My shot was falling," Buie said. "My teammates and my coaches just kept trusting me to go out there and make the right play. If it wasn't for them getting me open and setting good screens, it wouldn't have been possible."

Purdue-Fort Wayne might look funny on paper with an elaborate name and an unusual mascot, the Mastodons, but they are a legitimate and competitive program. They tied Cleveland State for the 2021-22 Horizon League regular-season title last season, and are looking for their fifth season of 20 or more wins in their last 10 years this year.

Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's win:

Buie cannot get enough credit for tonight's performance. With 28 of Northwestern's 60 points, he almost accounted for one in every two Wildcat points scored. His value was absolute as Purdue-Fort Wayne's intense defense suffocated every offensive effort that wasn't get Buie the ball, and get out of the way. Head coach Chris Collins lauded Buie's performance.

"He had to take it upon himself," Collins said. "That's what happens sometimes with a good player."

Buie finished 9-for-18 from the floor and 7-for-13 beyond the arc. Taking away Buie's numbers, Northwestern was a grisly 36% from the floor and a heinous 14% from three. With the intensity of Purdue-Fort Wayne's defense, the Wildcats needed a hero ball performance to get out of this with a win. Fortunately, Buie had his cape ready.

Outside of Buie, this game was deeply concerning for Northwestern.

The Wildcats had a significant size advantage across the board, but were unable to capitalize. The teams finished tied in rebounds with 37, and the Mastodons even won the battle on the offensive glass by two. Northwestern's inability to get points from its center position continues to be a glaring issue with this team.

Center Matt Nicholson, who is 7-feet tall and weighs 255 pounds, had two points and five rebounds in 21 minutes. Forward Tydus Verhoeven, who has started as an undersized center for Northwestern so far, tallied six points and three rebounds in 19 minutes.

A full 40 minutes of play from Nicholson and Verhoeven did not even muster a double-double. This has to change if the Wildcats want to survive, let alone compete, in the Big Ten this year.

On the perimeter, shot creation was nonexistent. The Mastodons cut off almost any flow or rhythm to Northwestern's attack, demanding that the Wildcats beat them one-on-one. Other than Buie, no one passed the stress test.

Forward Robbie Beran, who had shown encouraging signs of elevated production through the first three games, regressed. He finished with seven points on just seven shots. Ty Berry, another of Northwestern's auxiliary shot creators, tallied just four points on 2-for-8 shooting.

If this is the kind of blockade that a team like Fort Wayne can impose, this offense will struggle mightily in January and February.

With all that being said, Northwestern's defense was instrumental in notching another win. Collins said the defense is the team's calling card this season, and he is spot on. The Wildcats are allowing just 54 points per game, and Georgetown remains the only team to crack 60.

With the imminent rebuild of Ryan Field, there is a chance the athletic department sent out some employees to gather some of Fort Wayne's bricks to knock a couple dollars off the $800 million price tag.

The Mastodons were incredibly inefficient, shooting 32.7% from the field and 22.9% from three. Fort Wayne's leading scorer was Bobby Planutis, whose hot shooting led the late surge that brought them back into the game late. Planutis ended up with 14 points on 4-for-10 shooting, 4-for-9 from three-point range.

While Audige struggled offensively, he deserves credit for leading a stellar defensive performance. Fort Wayne's starting backcourt of Jarred Godfrey and Damian Chong Qui combined to shoot 5-for-23 and accounted for eight of their team's 19 turnovers.

"We're up, we have the lead," Buie said. "Don't worry about shots falling. As long as we can get stops, they can't win."

It is yet to be seen if Northwestern's defense can stand up to the type of skilled big men they will see in the Big Ten, but their ability to stifle perimeter scorers has been established through their first four wins.