Northwestern coach Bill Carmody shed his sports jacket in the opening minutes.
Purdue coach Gene Keady lost his temper with a minute left until halftime.
And ultimately the Boilermakers dropped a spirited contest Wednesday night as the Wildcats pulled off theie second major upset in a week, winning 78-67 in front of 4,084 fans, many of whom stormed the Welsh-Ryan Arena floor in celebration.
Purdue (15-6, 7-3) retains a share of first place in the Big Ten since co-leader Michigan dropped a 63-49 decision to Indiana. But the Boilermakers, now also tied with Wisconsin, missed an excellent opportunity to take sole possession of the conference lead going into Saturday’s home game against Illinois.
“Criticizing me is not going to bother me any. Because when I get home, my biggest critic is going to get me,” said Keady of his wife, Patricia.
“I know [Illinois coach] Bill Self is selling the fact that this is the biggest game of the year for them [Saturday]. Now we just have to recover and try to get our fans into it and see what can happen. It’s coming down to crunch time now, and personally I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Northwestern beat Purdue and Indiana in the same season for the first time since 1982. And NU beat Purdue in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1954-55.
Keady, who was assessed a technical foul in the final minute before the half, chided the officiating after the game but said he didn’t “want to take anything away from Northwestern.The thing that bothers me a little bit is that if the Big Ten office wants a soft league, they’re going to get it. I don’t understand what we’re doing.
“Is it going to be that way in the NCAA tournament? The Big Ten won’t have any teams in if they’re going to call it that way because we are all going to be 8-8. If it is, the fans are going to stop going to games.”
Northwestern’s stifling defense, led by guard T.J. Parker, held Purdue’s Willie Deane–the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer–to three first-half points. He wound up with 19.
“I was just following [Deane] everywhere because before the game in the locker room, coach [Carmody] said Willie Deane could hurt us,” Parker said.
“Willie Deane is the player who determines how their team is going to play,” added Northwestern guard Jitim Young, who finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
“We had no one with more than one field goal at halftime,” Keady said. “To me, that’s a team that can’t take pressure. We have to learn how to do that under pressure.”
Northwestern had five players score in double figures, led by senior center Aaron Jennings with a career-high 20 points. And the Cats outrebounded Purdue 33-28.
“We told the team before the game that if we score 70 points, we have a good chance to win,” Carmody said.
Purdue had won 10 of its previous 12 games and four of its last five conference contests before Wednesday night. The Wildcats’ only previous conference victory had come last week against Indiana.
“When you’re on the road, it’s no cakewalk,” said Deane, who was 5-for-16 from the field. “Like Minnesota beat us on the road our last game. And Indiana lost to Northwestern on the road.”
Northwestern (10-11, 2-8) controlled the tempo most of the game, leading 31-20 at the intermission. Senior Jason Burke had 12 of his 14 points in the first half.
Purdue shot 25 percent from the field in the first half.
“Our defense was pretty good,” Carmody said. “Those guys can score quickly. I was just real proud of the guys.”
