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 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), who might have limped into the postseason with a 2-4 mark in their last six games, but overwhelmed the 15th-seeded Wildcats (15-19) with a bruising inside game.
Braden Smith scored five points but set a new 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 advanced to a quarterfinal showdown Friday with second-seeded 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 three-point range despite not registering their first trey until the second half. The Boilermakers shot 34.8% (8 of 23) from behind the arc.
Purdue never trailed and scored eight of their 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 three 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.
