Buie stars as Northwestern tops Edey and No. 1 Purdue for 2nd straight season
Boo Buie scored seven of his 31 points in overtime to help Northwestern beat Zach Edey and No. 1 Purdue for the second straight season, winning 92-88 on Friday night in the Big Ten opener for each school.
Buie also had 9 assists and 4 rebounds, rallying Northwestern from an 8-point halftime deficit. Ty Berry also scored 7 points in OT and finished with 21, and Ryan Langborg added 20 points in Evanston.
The Wildcats (6-1, 1-0) became the seventh program since 2010-11 to beat a team ranked No. 1 in the AP poll in consecutive seasons. They topped the Boilermakers 64-58 on Feb. 12 for their first win against a No. 1 team.
Edey had 35 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots, but Purdue (7-1, 0-1) had no answer for Buie when it mattered most.
Moments after the final seconds ticked off, Edey & Co. trudged off the floor as students stormed the court at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Northwestern went ahead to stay on Berry's two foul shots with 2:09 left in overtime. Blake Preston forced a key turnover by stepping in front of Edey, and Buie and Berry each made two free throws in the final seconds to help close it out.
Fletcher Loyer scored 17 points for Purdue, and Braden Smith had 12 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. The Boilermakers outrebounded the Wildcats 52-27 and went 31 for 41 at the line.
Buie got Northwestern back in the game after an uneven start. The fifth-year guard converted two three-point plays and made a turnaround jumper during an 8-1 run that lifted the Wildcats to a 48-47 lead with 14:54 to go.
That set up a tight, back-and-forth finish to regulation with neither team leading by more than three. Northwestern grabbed a 69-66 advantage on Luke Hunger's tiebreaking 3 with 4:43 remaining, but Edey made two foul shots to tie it again at 70 with 3:52 to go.
Buie gave the Wildcats a 76-74 lead with a floater in the lane with 3.9 seconds left, but the 7-foot-4 Edey sent the game to OT when he grabbed Camden Heide's well-placed lob and scored inside in the final seconds.
Purdue put together an early 12-2 run and led 40-32 at halftime. Edey had 14 points and eight boards at the break, and Loyer made two of the Boilermakers' four 3-pointers in the first half.
Indiana 65, Maryland 53:
Kel'el Ware had 18 points and 14 rebounds, Mackenzie Mgbako added 13 points and Indiana cruised past Maryland 65-53 in a Big Ten Conference opener for both teams. The contest marked the earliest the Hoosiers have opened Big Ten play since defeating Northwestern 68-66 on Dec. 1, 2018. Malik Reneau made a 3-pointer with 13:51 remaining in the first half to give Indiana its first double-digit lead. Ware's three-point play with 3:20 remaining before the break put the Hoosiers ahead by double-figures for good. Indiana scored 10 straight points in the second half, with three straight baskets by Trey Galloway, to extend the lead to 52-31. Indiana led by as many as 23 points in the second half. Maryland got within 61-49 but Ware ended Indiana's scoring drought.
No. 5 Kansas 69, No. 4 UConn:
Kevin McCullar Jr. scored 21 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers that gave Kansas the lead down the stretch, and the fifth-ranked Jayhawks held on to beat No. 4 UConn 69-65. The game was a showdown of the past two national champions, and it lived up to the hype. The Jayhawks had a chance to wrap up the game in the final minute, but KJ Adams Jr. and Dajuan Harris Jr. could only make one of their four free throws. Cam Spencer had a look at a potential go-ahead 3-pointer in the final seconds, but it came up short and Adams put the game away with two free throws. Tristen Newton hit a career-high six 3s and scored 31 points for the Huskies.
No. 6 Houston 66, Xavier 60:
L.J. Cryer scored 23 points and Jamal Shead had 13 to help No. 6 Houston hold off Xavier 66-60 on Friday night. Houston improved to 8-0 for the second straight season and fifth time in school history. Quincy Olivari led the Xavier (4-4) with 17 points. Desmond Claude added 14 in the first meeting between the schools. The Musketeers were missing one of their best perimeter shooters, with Trey Green out with an illness. Houston won its first seven games by an average of 26.8 points. But the Cougars were challenged in their first true road game against a Big East Conference opponent.