The five best games of Boo Buie's career

MORE ON BUIE: Boo Buie, Northwestern's GOAT

Northwestern's season didn't end the way they wanted after an 75-58 loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to an outstanding No. 1 UConn team.

The continuation of the defending-champion Huskies' generational run through the tournament is a slight consolation for Wildcat fans dealing with the end of a generational run of their own: Boo Buie at point guard.

Buie led the team during the past two seasons to unparalleled success: two straight NCAA Tournament berths, two first-round victories and two straight seasons of 12 Big Ten wins.

Now he'll enter the NBA Draft, for good this time, and pursue a professional career. The Wildcats are indisputably better off than he found them, and will seek to rebuild around All-Big Ten Third Team guard Brooks Barnhizer, development and the portal.

But until the portal opens in the earnest and the NCAA Tournament draws to a close, let's continue to celebrate Buie's exceptional career in the Purple & White.

We picked five best games of Buie's career, with a few honorable mentions, as well:

After a landmark start, the Wildcats were faltering a bit at the finish line of the 2023 season. They lost four of their last five games, including a loss to Penn State in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament.

Still, Northwestern's NCAA Tournament berth was well-assured, and the Wildcats earned a No. 7 seed and faced No. 10 Boise State, a popular pick to pull an upset.

Not on Buie's watch.

After averaging 13.5 points per game in Northwestern's last four games, Buie erupted for 22 points, five rebounds and five assists on a very efficient 8-for-14 from the field. It was his first game shooting over 50% from the field in more than a month, and it led the Wildcats to a convincing 75-67 win.

Buie's 22 points were the second-most points in the NCAA Tournament by a Northwestern Wildcat at the time, behind only Bryant McIntosh's 25 in 2017 -- though both were bumped down a peg by Ryan Langborg's 27 points in overtime against Florida Atlantic last Sunday.

The Wildcats needed a kick-start after a sluggish close to their season and, on the biggest stage of his career at that point, Buie delivered.

The Sunday-to-Sunday stretch in mid-February where Northwestern beat No. 1 Purdue, No. 14 Indiana and Iowa at Welsh-Ryan Arena has an argument for the best three-game stretch in program history.

With a swarm of invasive red occupying a lot of non-student section seats at Welsh-Ryan, the arena was energized with roars from both fanbases.

Buie was in total control with 21 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Wildcats blew a 21-point first-half lead and the Hoosiers tied the game in the final minute. But Buie dribbled the clock inside 10, drove into the lane and dropped in a floater over Trey Galloway in the final seconds to clinch the win with two seconds on the clock.

Buie was often lauded as a Spartan Killer for his unique ability to beat Michigan State, but Indiana has an equal, if not superior, grievance. He scored 26 points the month before at Assembly Hall to fuel an 84-83 win over the then-No. 15 Hoosiers. The Welsh-Ryan masterpiece got the nod for Buie's late-game heroics, but both performances deserve serious acclaim.

The Wildcats have now won four straight against Indiana for the first time since 1931-33.

Buie put Northwestern's 2023 campaign into hyperdrive with a monster 26-point performance to upset No. 1 Purdue at Welsh-Ryan Arena. It was the first time that the Wildcats had ever beaten an AP No. 1 program, and the first time Northwestern had beaten Purdue anywhere since 2014.

Welsh-Ryan had shown promise as a hostile environment before that, with large crowds seeing Northwestern win big games against Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota that season. But here is where Buie and the students founded the perfect union that would lead to so many more electric atmospheres like this one over the next season and a half.

The raucous students rattled the No. 1 Boilermakers, and Buie and Chase Audige did the rest. The Wildcats turned Purdue over four times in the final 2:07 of the game, with Buie icing it away with a steal on Braden Smith with 18 seconds left and the Wildcats up four.

Buie knocked down both free throws seconds later to put the game away and light up the scoreboard with its final score: 64-58. The crowd stormed the court after the game, providing an epic pre-game to the Super Bowl later that day.

For years, the Wildcats wilted under pressure late in games. Buie ended that reputation that night in February, and they never looked back. From that day forward, the Wildcats had their closer.

Twenty-one days after the 96-66 loss in Champaign where the Illini decimated Northwestern to open the calendar year, Buie responded in rare form to deliver a 96-91 overtime win over the No. 10 Illini at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

The star guard barely left the floor, playing 42 minutes, racking up 29 points, seven assists, three rebounds and three steals. He embodied what it meant to be a floor general, dissecting a longer, more physical and higher-ranked Illinois team that now finds itself in the Elite Eight.

That night, it was Buie who was elite. He sliced through the Illini defense for a tying layup with 23 seconds left, finishing through contact by 6-foot-10 Coleman Hawkins.

On the other end, he stonewalled a fellow member of the All-Big Ten First Team, Marcus Domask. The 6-foot-6, 215-pound forward couldn't get past Buie on a drive and was pressured into a 12-foot jumper that clanged off the back iron to force overtime.

In the extra session, after a scoreless first 1:25, it was Buie who broke the ice with a three. He finished with eight points in overtime to lead the Wildcats to their second straight win over Illinois in Evanston.

After losing eight straight to the Illini 2019-2022, the Wildcats have split the series over the last two seasons, winning both games at home thanks in heavy part to Buie's excellence.

After the upset in Evanston in February and a humiliating loss to 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson in the NCAA Tournament, Purdue started their 2023-24 season on the warpath.

They dominated the Maui Invitational, beating three of the Top 11 teams in the country in three days and steamed into Evanston for their Big Ten opener on Dec. 1, undefeated, No. 1 and set on vengeance.

They met Boo Buie and a 92-88 defeat in overtime.

In the most complete game of his career, Buie put together a masterclass with 31 points, nine assists and, most impressively, no turnovers. The second win over an AP No. 1 team in program history was irrefutable proof that, somehow, Buie in 2023-24 would be better than Buie in 2022-23. The scoring was still undeniable but he didn't just draw defenses and score points, he controlled games.

Buie put the top-ranked Boilers in the palm of his hand for 45 minutes. He made or assisted every Northwestern field goal from 6:03 left in the second half through the end of the game. Purdue big man Zach Edey finished with 35 points and 14 rebounds, but it was Buie who got the win.

While Buie could still light up the scoreboard, this game was the introduction to the floor general Boo Buie, the force of nature and the greatest player in Northwestern history.

The Jersey Game at Illinois is a key pillar of Buie's lore at Northwestern.

He dropped a career-high 35 points on 12-for-24 field goals and 6-for-11 three pointers, and did it in two separate jerseys after his hallmark No. 0 was torn to pieces on a play where no foul was called. With Jordanesque flair, Buie donned a nameless, spare No. 4 and set out to torch the Illini anyway, scoring 21 of his 35 in his second jersey.

The Illini stormed back from a 37-19 halftime deficit to stave off an upset bid, 66-62, but Buie's dual-attired career-high was a virtuoso performance that will be a fond memory for Wildcat fans for years to come, even though it was a loss.

Buie passed John Shurna as Northwestern's all-time leading scorer with his 2,050th career point in a home win over Michigan. Over seven more games in the season, Buie pushed that number even further beyond reach to 2,187.

Jitters struck the team with Buie just four points away at tip off, and the lowly Wolverines built an early lead. Buie got a layup within the first minute, but didn't break the record until he hit a three with 9:59 left in the first half to pull the WIldcats to within 18-14.

From there, the Wildcats cruised to a 76-62 win, with Buie tallying a workmanlike 16 points and seven assists. After the game, the program honored Buie with tribute videos as ovations rained down on the court.

The other noteworthy thing about the game: 6,400 fans showed up for a Thursday night game against a cellar-dwelling Michigan team that would finish the season with just eight wins and part ways with head coach Juwan Howard. The place was blanketed in purple, packed with students and fans there to celebrate Buie, regardless of opponent.

It was the perfect example of the bond he built with Northwestern.