Purdue Basketball: Boilermakers pound Northwestern

Purdue basketball made easy work of the Northwestern Wildcats Wednesday night in Mackey Arena.

The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the Northwestern Wildcats, 80-59, Wednesday night at Mackey Arena. The two teams now share identical records on the season (18-5) and in conference (7-3).

Early on, the Wildcats looked ready to play. They forced three early turnovers and got out to a quick 4-0 lead.

This would be about as good as things would get for Northwestern.

Purdue battled back and the two teams traded baskets for the first 10 minutes of game time. After finding themselves down 10-9, the Boilermakers went on a quick 12-0 run to take a 21-10 lead.

The Wildcats did what they could to stay in the game, cutting the lead to eight later in the half, but that would be as close as they got the rest of the game as Purdue closed the half on a 21-7 run and took a 22-point lead into intermission.

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The second half proved to be uneventful. Northwestern never got their deficit under 17 as the Boilermakers cruised to an easy 21-point victory.

For Northwestern, this loss is far from alarming. They have never made the NCAA Tournament and for them to be ranked (25th) and near the top of the Big Ten standings at this point in the season is a victory in itself.

This game did, however, highlight the Wildcats’ biggest issue as far as their struggles rebounding the ball. Northwestern was out-rebounded against Purdue 41-30, and they continue to struggle to clean up the defensive glass. The Wildcats allow opponents to rebound more than 31 percent of their misses, which is 242nd in the country.

Despite their continued struggles on the boards, this game really just came down to them not making shots. Northwestern has a mediocre 50.8 effective field goal percentage on the season, and against the Boilermakers, they shot just 21-of-60 (2-of-14 from three). Purdue does boast a solid defense, but the Wildcats should be fine moving forward as this poor shooting performance is more than likely an anomaly.

For Purdue, this win cements their status as being among the conference’s elite next to Maryland, Wisconsin, and Northwestern. They had already picked up a great win over the Badgers, but losses to Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska had some questioning how good they really were. It is now clear that Purdue is among the Big Ten’s elite.

I already touched on Purdue’s rebounding advantage against the Wildcats, and potential Big Ten Player of the Year Caleb Swanigan continues to punish opponents on the glass. Swanigan is averaging close to 13 rebounds on the season and had 16 on Wednesday night.

The Boilermakers are also so dangerous because of their ridiculous efficiency from beyond the three-point line. They are currently third in the country in three-point percentage and went 12-of-23 from deep against Northwestern.

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Purdue faces a tough test against Maryland on Saturday, while Northwestern matches up with Illinois on February 7th before their big meeting with Wisconsin on the 12th. Both of these teams will be dangerous come March, but Purdue was clearly the better team Wednesday night.

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