Purdue at Northwestern Basketball - Game Preview

Purdue didn't lose very often last season, but all five of its regular season losses came inside Big Ten action. None more upsetting than when Purdue went up to Northwestern as the #1 team in the country and Northwestern pulled off the 64-58 upset. It was Northwestern's first program win against a #1 team.

The game ended with a mob of Northwestern students surrounding both teams after a final ten minutes that turned in the Wildcats favor. Northwestern out physical'd Purdue at the end of the game. They were relentless with Edey inside and the calls didn't seem to go both ways. Purdue was a team that had it taken to them, and Painter wasn't shy about saying his team didn't respond to it.

The loss did something remarkable, it made Zach Edey short. After the game, he was visibly mad, frustrated with the whistle, and the game not being called the same both ways. He was bleeding and bruised after the game. Today, he was still short talking about Northwestern.

"Everyone remembers that game," Edey said in one of his longest answers ahead of Thursday's practice. "Everyone remembers kind of how everyone felt after that game."

It's a sentiment that Fletcher Loyer thinks the team shares. As much as this is another basketball game and Purdue attempts to treat them all the same, there seems something a little extra in the Purdue locker room ahead of Purdue's Big Ten opener.

"I think this is one that definitely stuck out to us," Loyer said Thursday. "One it being our first Big Ten game, one it being they beat us last year, and they stormed the court. Their coach got Coach of the Year, and we thought Coach Painter should have gotten it."

Chris Collins was awarded his first Big Ten Coach of the Year honor despite Purdue winning the Big Ten by three games and getting the #1 seed in the tournament.

Starting the Big Ten season is enough motivation for Painter and his coaches. Games tend to get harder when the familiar foes square off.

"Both run a lot of stuff," Matt Painter said ahead of practice Thursday afternoon. "Which can caus ea lot of confusion whether you're familiar or not."

And both teams should be plenty familiar with each other. Both teams bring back more than 50% of its minutes from last season.

Northwestern's two key cogs are still its two key cogs in Boo Buie and Brooks Barnhizer.

Zach Edey is still at Purdue.

Player's aren't the only circumstance that are the same. Purdue will again go into Northwestern as favorites in the Big Ten. Purdue will again go into Northwestern as the #1 team in the country. Northwestern will again try to play spoiler, and knock off #1 in back to back season.

It's a challenge that Loyer said he enjoys.

"Going in #1, there's an even bigger target on your back," he said.

"We're definitely going into this one with a little bit more of a chip on our shoulder," he would go onto to say.

It's a fitting first Big Ten game for Purdue. Though most of the players are the same, this year's team wants to tell a different story. That starts with avenging a loss to Northwestern on the road last year.

Brooks Barnhizer has come a long way from Lafayette, Indiana, where he spent his high school career playing for Jefferson High School.

He will play against his hometown college as one of Big Ten's best four's, averaging over 15 points and 8 rebounds a game. After coming on late in his sophomore season, he's kept that up this year. He's scored in double-digits every game this season as he's stepped into the starting role full-time.

He's provided Northwestern with a second option to counter Boo Buie's shot-making. Buie is one of the best shot makers in the conference, capable of scoring in the mid-range and pulling up from almost anywhere on the court.

Together, the guard and forward comprise one of the best tandems in the conference.

But Northwestern is not without help. It's an experienced starting five, with Ty Berry getting off to a slow start this season, and legitimate size down low with Matthew Nicholson. Part of the story of last season's game was Nicholson's ability to play 27 minutes while only picking up two fouls. The only Northwestern player to get into foul trouble was Barnhizer with four.

Can Northwestern do that again? Wildcats lost their best defensive player, and one of the best perimeter defenders in the country, Chase Audige. Audige was a large part in Northwestern's season, helping the Wildcats have the 22nd best defense in the country. This season, Northwestern is just outside the top-80 in defensive efficiency according to Kenpom.

Northwestern will need to find that same defensive intensity Friday night if it wants to get the best of Purdue for the second straight season.

For Purdue, the key might be how new addition Lance Jones handles the assignment of Boo Buie. Buie went off for Northwestern against Purdue last year, scoring 26 points despite a subpar 1 of 6 performance from beyond the three-point line. Jones is a versatile, strong defender, who assistant coach Terry Johnson says has changed Purdue's ceiling on what kind of defensive team it can be this season.

While Northwestern will try to send body after body to make the court murky for Zach Edey, Purdue will hope that Jones can put a blanket over Buie and keep the dangerous guard out of the paint.

Zach Edey returned to college with a purpose. This Purdue team has come together under that same purpose. Purdue might be #1 again for the third straight season, but that's not what this team is playing for.

Purdue is a team that's finding its stride with new addition Lance Jones, and two talented freshman. It's allowed Purdue to play faster, moving up from one of the slowest paces in the country to a respectable 85th quickest team in the country.

Northwestern got under Purdue's skin last year. The officials got under Purdue's skin.

Purdue turned the ball over 16 times in Evanston last year and its jump shots let them down, going just 5 of 22 from the three-point line. The loss to Northwestern looked like an aberration for one game before it started to look like a trend. Purdue would lose its following game at Maryland by 14 points 4 days later. Then it'd lose its third in four games against Indiana at home, completing the season sweep for the Hoosiers.

Of course, turnovers and three-point shooting would go on and sink Purdue in the NCAA Tournament against Fairleigh Dickinson. This Purdue has worn that chip all off-season, it carried it into the Maui Invitational, and still haven't rid itself of that motivation. March is a long way off, but avenging one of its six losses from last season is a good start towards a season looking for ultimate redemption.