WATCH: Northwestern storms the court after upset win over No. 1 Purdue
As we push towards March, we come even closer to the madness that it brings. We got to see the latest example of that with the 64-58 win for Northwestern over No. 1 Purdue in Evanston.
Once the Boilermakers led 55-47 with under four to go, they had a 91.2% win probability according to ESPN analytics. However, the Wildcats beat the odds with a 17-3 run to finish which, following that, earned a well-deserved court storming inside Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Again, this was a game that Purdue was a favorite in. They showed it over a majority of the game too with as much as a 10-point lead. Even so, Northwestern’s Top-25 defense shined when they needed it the most as, in the final minutes, they forced the Boilermakers into six of their 16 turnovers, two misses from three, and gave up only three points on free throws.
“I’m just so proud of the guys. They’re so good,” said head coach Chris Collins in his postgame interview on the floor. “We were down, we weren’t making shots. We just stuck with it, we fought. Finally, Chase (Audige) got going. How about this crowd, man? To have these guys come out and support this team, it’s pretty awesome.”
“I thought we were getting great shots. We were fighting like crazy on D. I thought we had a stretch where we were getting what we wanted, we just weren’t making shots,” Collins added. “Finally, Chase hit that big one in the corner. We got the steal and the dunk and then, the rest of the game man, we got some huge stops when we needed it.”
This victory only continued what has been an overachieving season for Northwestern. After being picked to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten, the Wildcats, who are in second place in the league, just gave the conference’s top squad its third loss of the season.