Vincent Edwards 'in the zone,' keys Purdue's victory over ranked team

The post-three celebration evolution of Vincent Edwards:

A simple point to the assister.

A double-three-point goggles gesture followed by a yell, mouthpiece barely hanging on.

A shake of the head. As in, nope, can’t stop me.

And, then, a simple walk away. As in, yup, fire.

Edwards’ 4-for-5 three-point showcase in only 11 first-half minutes gave No. 23 Purdue the spark it needed to revive its Big Ten-title push and shape its NCAA Tournament résumé with a signature victory over No. 25 Northwestern Wednesday in Mackey Arena.

“I was just in the zone,” said Edwards, who finished with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 5-of-7 three-pointers. “When I knew that (fourth) one went in, it was like just couldn’t do no wrong. That was a pretty big shot.”

Wouldn’t have mattered if Edwards’ hot touch had faded by the time the second half came. The Boilermakers already had built a 22-point lead at the break, and Edwards had already done his part.

And it was a part that he hadn’t played in awhile. At least not in this way.

Entering the game, Edwards had made four three-pointers total in the previous seven games. He didn’t have a single one in the previous three games. He hadn’t made four in a game since Dec. 6 against Arizona State. But, on Wednesday, he had the touch.

That included into the second half, when a three-pointer from the wing swished through — that celebration was an exaggerated follow-through — when Purdue seemed like it desperately needed a basket. Even though it was still up 18 points at the time. It was Edwards’ single-game career-high fifth three-pointer.

Edwards said he didn’t come into the game with a different mindset necessarily, he just made shots.

“Just be confident and have fun playing the game,” Edwards said of his approach. “Just go out there and play hard, don’t even think about it. Just play the way I know how to play. My teammates did a good job of finding me when I got hot, and I was able to knock down my open shots.”

Edwards four first-half three-pointers came within about a six-minute span but rapid fire, too.

With Purdue leading only 12-10 about eight minutes into the game, Ryan Cline swung the pass from the wing to Edwards in the corner for the first three.

After Northwestern missed a three-pointer, Caleb Swanigan got the rebound and got the outlet quickly to P.J. Thompson. Thompson quickly got the ball to Cline, again on the wing. And, again, Cline quickly swung the ball to Edwards alone in the corner. Another three.

Two threes in about 20 seconds.

Almost exactly six minutes later, Edwards had the ball on the wing and was looking to feed a pass inside to Isaac Haas on the block. Instead, he pulled the trigger from the deep wing and sunk it.

On Purdue’s next possession, Edwards fired the heat-check three from the opposite wing and drilled it.

Two threes in about 25 seconds.

“Any time you go through some tough times, whether it’s an injury or you just don’t get looks or the ball doesn’t go in for you, you need some positive reinforcement with the ball going in, just feeling good about yourself. So it was great for him, but it was also great for our team because it gives us such balance when he makes threes and everybody else is making threes,” Matt Painter said of Edwards, who'd been nursing a variety of injuries but hasn't missed a game. “If we can continue to make good decisions and Vince can be that guy who’s in between who can drive the basketball, make a pull-up but also make threes, it really helps us out.”

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