Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff each scored 19 points as it didn’t take long for No. 18 Purdue to end Northwestern’s dreams of a Cinderella run with an 81-68 win in the third round of the Big Ten Conference tournament on Thursday in Chicago.
Fletcher Loyer added 14 points and Cluff pulled down 10 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Boilermakers (24-8). Purdue limped into the postseason with a 2-4 mark in its last six games but still overwhelmed the 15th-seeded Wildcats (15-19) with a bruising inside game.
Braden Smith scored five points but set a Big Ten tournament single-game record with 16 assists. Purdue hammered Northwestern inside as it held a 38-18 advantage on points in the paint.
The Boilermakers, who never trailed, advanced to a quarterfinal showdown Friday with second-seeded and 11th-ranked Nebraska.
Nick Martinelli scored a game-high 25 points, Jayden Reid contributed 19 points and nine assists and Jordan Clayton chipped in 10 points for the Wildcats. Northwestern shot 42.9% (6 of 14) from 3-point range despite not registering its first trey until the second half. The Boilermakers shot 34.8% (8 of 23) from behind the arc.
Purdue scored eight of its first 11 points in the paint. The Boilermakers dominated the first half and headed into the locker room with a 24-point lead at 45-21.
A potent inside game gradually opened up space for the Boilermakers’ from three-point distance. Smith nailed a three in transition from the top of the key and moments later, Loyer hit a corner trey for a 19-9 Purdue lead.
But the next two Boilermakers’ buckets came inside for Kaufman-Renn as the Purdue lead stretched to 23-11 courtesy of a 12-4 scoring surge.
When Smith hit Harris in the corner for a 3-pointer as part of a 10-0 rally — that also featured Kaufman-Renn and Cluff layups and an Omer Mayer trey — the Boilermakers surged to a 33-13 lead.
Martinelli’s three-point play with 16:02 remaining allowed the Wildcats to creep within 52-33. Back-to-back threes from Reid and Clayton highlighted a 16-5 Northwestern run that trimmed Purdue’s lead to 71-57 with 7:00 to play.
–Field Level Media
