Northwestern upset No. 1 Purdue inside Welsh-Ryan Arena for the second season in a row on Friday behind 31 points from Boo Buie, who helped the Wildcats outlast the Boilermakers 92-88 in overtime. The win marked a momentous beginning to Big Ten play for Northwestern, which fell behind 29-16 early and trailed 40-32 at halftime before Buie, Ty Berry and Ryan Langborg got hot after the break.
The trio combined for 72 of Northwestern's points, but Buie stole the show. The fifth-year senior guard hit a go-ahead floater over Zach Edey with 3.2 seconds left in regulation to tie the game before Edey answered with a bucket with 0.6 seconds remaining to force overtime.
BOO BUIE WITH A DAGGER 🎯 pic.twitter.com/Purs9lQZy5
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) December 2, 2023
The extra period belonged to the Wildcats and Buie, who scored seven points in overtime, including two critical free throws with 13 seconds remaining. Buie has a chance to become the program's all-time leading scorer this season, and Friday's performance constituted another memorable chapter to his legacy after he willed the program to its second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance last season. He played all but a two-minute stretch in the first half and racked up nine assists without committing a single turnover in the game as the Boilermakers struggled to come up with defensive answers.
It amounted to a moment of deja vu for the reigning Big Ten champions. Purdue also lost at Northwestern last season while ranked No. 1. It wound up being part of a 4-4 stretch to close the regular season for Purdue, which rebounded by winning the Big Ten Tournament before suffering a stunning upset loss to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round on the NCAA Tournament.
Edey led Purdue with 35 points and 14 rebounds on Friday, but the Boilermakers made just 5 of 19 attempts from 3-point range and didn't hit a single attempt from beyond the arc in the second half as Northwestern rallied.
