It wasn’t pretty, but it was easy.
There was no buzzer-beater, no questionable foul in the final minutes. It was just a solid home-court, Big Ten win before a crowd of 4,676 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
With the 61-48 win, the Wildcats moved into a tie with the 1931 NU team for second place in victories for a single season.
NU (16-9, 7-6 Big Ten) also won three straight Big Ten games for the first time since January 1976 after its wins over Minnesota on Feb. 13 and Penn State on Saturday.
“It’s amazing that it’s been that long,” NU forward Tavaras Hardy said. “We’ve got a lot more things to do – even though the season is winding down – that Northwestern hasn’t been able to do in the past.”
Hardy also reached a personal milestone in the victory. The senior set a school record for appearances with his 114th game at NU.
Purdue (12-16, 4-10) didn’t challenge the Cats after the first five minutes of the game. At that point, the Cats were down 11-2, and NU coach Bill Carmody called a timeout.
Carmody told the team to “just play ball,” Winston Blake said. The words of wisdom must have worked.
NU went on an 18-3 run to bring the score to 20-14 and never relinquished its lead.
Of course, the Boilermakers helped out a lot.
“We can’t execute, go on long dry spells and shoot the ball quick,” Purdue coach Gene Keady said. “We’re just not able to do the things it takes to win in the Big Ten this year.”
Rebounding was the only category in which the Boilermakers topped the Cats, grabbing 39 boards to NU’s 30.
The only NU player who didn’t have trouble on the glass was Blake, who had a career-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. The junior added 18 points – 15 of them in the second half.
The Cats’ defense kept pace with their offense, holding a second straight opponent to less than 50 points. NU had five steals and five blocked shots, and the Boilermakers’ 48 points was their lowest offensive output of the season.
The Boilermakers never found their shooting touch after the break, making only one of 13 shots from behind the arc.
With the win, NU moved to 10-2 at Welsh-Ryan Arena this season, marking just the fourth time that the Cats have won 10 games at home in a season.
“That was the only goal we had this year, to defend our home court,” Carmody said. “We can’t say we’re young anymore. We should win games at home.”
Purdue’s poor performance wasn’t a surprise to Keady. His team has been struggling all season and just barely beat NU in West Lafayette, Ind., on Jan. 23.
“We’ve been wearing people out in this league for years, and now they’re getting even with us,” Keady said. “You knew it was coming someday. I just didn’t want (them) to do it when I was alive.”
