Wildcats prepare for return of Zach Edey, No. 1 Purdue

EVANSTON-Welsh-Ryan Arena is sold out on Friday night as the Wildcats prepare to take on undefeated, No. 1 Purdue and reigning National Player of the Year Zach Edey.

It's always a big game when the Boilermakers come to town, but the stakes are even higher after Northwestern upset then-No. 1 Purdue, 64-58, last season, again in Evanston, on Feb. 12.

"When you have the No. 1 team, the best player in the country coming to town, you're going to be excited about that opportunity," said head coach Chris Collins said. "You're in your non-league schedule, then all of a sudden, a Big Ten game pops up.

"There's definitely excitement, you could see it at practice yesterday. Big Ten games are different... We'd better be ready, they're playing some great basketball."

Collins isn't kidding. Purdue has responded to a disappointing upset in last season's NCAA Tournament by opening 6-0, with wins over Marquette, Tennessee and Gonzaga, all of whom are currently ranked 11th or better in the AP Poll. Leading that effort is Edey, the 7-foot-4 leviathan averaging 21.9 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game.

"It's really hard to replicate Edey in a practice," Collins said. "You have to play against them to understand how he distorts the game, positively, with his size and dominance...

"Just watch the way they're playing right now, there's not a whole lot of weaknesses. We're going to have to be at our very best and hopefully with the atmosphere of the crowd and the game, we give ourselves a chance down the stretch to be competitive."

Here are our takeaways from what Collins had to say:

Big-time Big Ten opener: This game marks the first conference game for both teams, and even though the timing of Thanksgiving tournaments has given the Wildcats some more time to rest and review film than Purdue, Collins would have rather faced them in the heart of the Big Ten schedule, like they did last year.

"I'd rather play them a bit later in the season, quite honestly," he said. "When you see a team play 20 to 25 games, you get a little bit better picture of who they are...

"It's kind of weird having a high-level Big Ten game on December 1, but we have to with the amount of teams and the amount of games [in conference]. As we go into final exams next week, for us it's kind of like, let's throw everything we can into this game, let's be at our best and see what we can do against these guys."

Despite the upset win and making it further into the NCAA Tournament that the Boilers last season, Collins' respect for Purdue and their start to this season was overwhelmingly clear.

"These guys are as good as it gets," he said. "We just have to try and do our best knowing that you're going to give up some things, and hopefully they're not having a night where they shoot the lights out from three, because then it gets really hard.

"Edey's going to get his [points]. Even last year, I thought we did a great job of swarming, and he still got 24 points. It's daunting, for sure, but I think our guys are up for the task."

At the end of the day, Collins has his team believing that, once again, it's not the ranking that matters. It's what happens the 40 minutes of action after tip off.

"That's what's cool about basketball," he said. "It's not gymnastics or skating, you don't have judges.

"You actually get to go out on the court and play the game. So we're going to have to do it like we've always done it, grind it out and do it the hard way. I think our guys have learned to embrace that mentality."

Collins wants to clean up defense, foul trouble: One of the key pillars that defined last season's team was its swarming defense. When they upset Purdue, they did it by holding the Boilermakers to just 58 points.

Even as the Wildcats have started 5-1, their defense hasn't matched the same intensity that last season's had. Collins said that's to be expected and part of growing pains with some new players on the roster.

"It's a work in progress, for sure," he said. "We're not where we were at the end of February, but that took time as well.

"Last year in the early season, Pittsburgh came in here and put [87] on us. Ohio State came in and beat us pretty badly and scored about 90 on us, as well. It took time last year for us to find our stride and that's the case [this year], too."

It'll be a battle of two different styles. Collins likes his teams to play steadily, whereas Purdue likes to go out and light up the scoreboard.

"We'd like the game to be more in the 60s, that's going to lend itself to us," he said. "If this thing is in the 80s or low 90s, I'm not sure if we have the firepower they do to withstand that. We want to be really smart about tempo, for sure."

Part of securing the tempo and keeping the Boilermakers will be cutting down on their ability to get to the line and extend possessions by drawing fouls. The Wildcats have struggled to stay disciplined defensively, with players all over their lineup getting into foul trouble, or even fouling out through six games.

"We just have to be smarter," Collins said. "Especially our main guys, they're getting too many silly ones. We're sticking our hand in the cookie jar, getting a reach in.

"Boo [Buie]'s second foul the other night, he lost the ball, tries to get it back, and gets a second foul 90 feet away from the basket. You are going to pick up some fouls, especially against a physical team like Purdue, but you have to shy away from the silly ones."

First remarks regarding KJ Windham: This was Collins' first general media availability since KJ Windham signed his Letter of Intent to join Northwestern's Class of 2024 alongside Angelo Ciaravino.

Windham, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound combo guard from Indianapolis (Ind.) Ben Davis, could be the next under-the-radar guard to star for the Wildcats. He is ranked as a three-star prospect but didn't have another power six conference offer.

"He's a winner, [he brings] a toughness element," Collins said. "He's out of Indianapolis, won a state championship. He's a terrific two-way guard.

"He plays defense, he can shoot threes, he can handle the ball, and he won a state championship and [plays for] a very successful AAU program... I think he fits not just as a player with what we do, but the culture of guys we bring in.

"He was a little bit under the radar, he's a guy that was undervalued and brings a lot to the table. He can be a key piece for us moving forward."