Purdue rallies past Northwestern 63-61
In search of its first upset of a ranked team in nearly three full years, Northwestern did almost everything right.
For the first 32 minutes.
Then the Wildcats started missing layups and free throws in droves - and gave No. 19 Purdue just enough room to catch up.
Trailing by 11 with 7:45 to go, the Boilermakers took their first lead with 70 seconds left.
Then, with the game tied and Purdue working for the final shot, referee Ed Hightower called a demure pushing foul on NU's Jeff Ryan in the post with 2.2 seconds to go.
Sophomore center JaJuan Johnson canned both free throws - one better than he did in a similar situation Dec. 30 against Illinois - and Purdue escaped with a 63-61 Big Ten victory before 4,473 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"At halftime, everyone was saying, 'This is our Big Ten championship right here,' " said Boilers sophomore Robbie Hummel. "If we want to win that, if we want to contend for that, we've got to get it done right now."
Purdue (13-4, 2-2) won despite committing 22 turnovers against Northwestern's vicious 1-3-1 zone trap.
That allowed the Wildcats to lead by as much as 14, but they couldn't earn their first win over a ranked foe since Feb. 8, 2006, against Iowa.
"I'll never say this, but I'm saying it now," said Northwestern coach Bill Carmody. "It's going to be hard for me to go into the locker room and see those guys because we played well.
"Again, to beat a good team you have to make your layups and you have to salt it away with making your foul shots."
Northwestern led 49-41 with nine minutes to go when its problems kicked in.
The Wildcats (8-6, 0-4) went to the line six times in that stretch. Each time they made the first and missed the second.
During the same time frame, NU had three layups blocked and missed two others.
The capper came with 19 seconds left, when junior Jeremy Nash had a 3-on-1 break at the end of a frantic stretch and couldn't convert.
NU athletic director Jim Phillips encapsulated the home crowd's frustration when he smacked the SECTION 103 sign near his seat and knocked it upside down.
On Purdue's final play,
NU senior guard Craig Moore doubled down and stripped the 6-foot-10 Johnson at the same time Hightower called the foul on Ryan from behind. Moore had no complaints with the call.
"I think that the game wasn't won or lost on that final play," he said. "We missed too many free throws, especially in the second half, and missed a lot of layups."