NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Duke, fall in latest top 25 power ranking

4. Purdue (7-1)

What a difference a week can make in the sport of college basketball. Purdue certainly learned that last season against Fairleigh Dickinson, but let’s not focus on the distant past. These Boilermakers were phenomenal during the Maui Invitational, running off three straight wins over ranked foes. This past week, however, they suffered their first defeat against a somewhat weaker opponent.

Before we get into that, Purdue’s return to the mainland was a successful one, getting a 99-67 win over Texas Southern back on Tuesday. Braden Smith neared a triple-double with his 19-point, 10-assist, 9-rebound performance while Zach Edey put up 15. Friday was a different story, as the Boilermakers opened Big Ten play with their first road game of the season. They fell 92-88 in an overtime thriller at Northwestern despite Edey’s 35 points and 14 rebounds.

True road games are difficult and things like this will happen to any team in the country. The Boilermakers still have perhaps the best resume in the country with their performance in Hawaii; they simply got outshot and outdone at Evanston. They’ll have little time to lick their wounds, as they continue this prelude to conference play against Iowa before a highly-anticipated matchup against Alabama next weekend.