Men’s Basketball

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Looking for a marquee victory in one of the Big Ten’s most hostile environments, Northwestern came up short at Purdue on Sunday.

Bullied at times by the Boilermakers (8-2, 2-0 Big Ten) in the paint, the Wildcats (5-4, 1-1) wasted strong performances from junior center Dererk Pardon and senior guard Scottie Lindsey as they fell 74-69 at Mackey Arena.

Lindsey finished with 17 points and Pardon had 20, but their efforts were not enough. NU led 67-65 with just over two minutes to play, but Purdue used a stretch of three straight made field goals to push ahead 71-69 with 43 seconds left. NU failed to convert on a frantic possession moments later, and Purdue escaped with a victory after senior guard Bryant McIntosh rimmed out a 3 on NU’s last real possession.

Following the tough loss, the Cats will return to nonconference play, where a series of manageable games await. Next up, Chicago State will visit Evanston on Dec. 11.

Takeaways

1. Purdue controlled the final minutes. The Boilermakers showed why they are so difficult to beat at home in the contest, coming up with buckets and clutch free throws down the stretch. The Cats appeared to be stretched thin in their effort to pull off the upset, and Purdue shot 62.5 percent from the field in the second half. NU shot the ball well in the second half too, hitting on more than half its shots after the break, but came up short at the end, with McIntosh missing a great opportunity to knot the game at 72 before the buzzer.

2. NU struggled to stop Isaac Haas. The undersized Cats had no answer for Haas, the Boilermakers’ skilled 7-foot-2 center. Haas finished the afternoon with 26 points, and NU often resorted to hacking him in the paint. Purdue worked its offense through Haas, and he finished with 14 free throws. Pardon managed not to foul out while guarding the imposing big man until the final seconds, but a team-wide effort to slow him down came up short.

3. But the Cats do seem to be playing better. After it crashed to an 85-49 loss against Texas Tech in nonconference play, many questions swirled around whether this NU team could approach the heights of last season. An ugly 52-51 loss to Georgia Tech did little to quell those concerns. But even in light of the loss to Purdue, this weekend looked like a step forward for the Cats. After topping Illinois in overtime Friday, NU looked very much Purdue’s equal on the road Sunday. In a weakened Big Ten — which just got clocked by the ACC in the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge — there are signs the Cats could again compete with the league’s brass.

Stats:
Vic Law: 12 points, 10 rebounds
Aaron Falzon: 12 minutes played

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