Bill Carmody shed his sports jacket in the opening minutes.
Gene Keady lost his temper with a minute left before halftime.
And ultimately Purdue dropped a spirited contest Wednesday night as Northwestern pulled off its second major upset in a week, 78-67, in front of 4,084 fans at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Purdue (15-6, 7-3) retains a share of first place in the Big Ten because co-leader Michigan dropped a 63-49 decision to Indiana.
But the Boilermakers, who are also tied with Wisconsin, missed an excellent opportunity to take sole possession of the lead going into Saturday’s home game against Illinois.
Keady didn’t know which version of his team was going to show up Wednesday.
“Our problem right now is learning how to win on the road,” he said. “We play completely different on the road than we do at home. That’s a mystery we’re trying to get figured out.”
Northwestern’s stifling defense in the first half held Purdue’s Willie Deane–the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer–to three points. He wound up with 19.
“When you are on the road, it’s no cakewalk,” Deane said. “Like Minnesota beat us on the road our last game. And Indiana lost to Northwestern on the road.”
Northwestern had five players score in double figures, led by senior center Aaron Jennings with a career-high 20 points.
And the Wildcats 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.
The Wildcats’ only previous conference victory had come against Indiana last Wednesday.
Purdue, which beat Northwestern 82-68 on Jan. 11 in Mackey Arena, leads the all-time series 113-37, including a 49-27 advantage in Evanston.
Northwestern (10-11, 2-8) controlled the tempo most of the first half, leading 31-20 at the intermission. Senior Jason Burke had 12 of his 14 points in the first half.
Purdue shot an erratic 25 percent in the first half, connecting on just 7-of-28 shots. NU, meanwhile, hit on 47 percent (9-of-19).
“Our defense was pretty good,” Carmody said. “Those guys can score quickly. I was just real proud of the guys.”
The Wildcats took a 29-18 lead with 1 minute left until intermission.
Austin Parkinson was whistled for a foul and Keady was assessed a technical following his sideline histrionics.
Northwestern came out smoking in the second half, outscoring Purdue 7-2 in the opening minutes for a 38-22 advantage before Keady signaled for a timeout.
The Wildcats led by as many as 16 points (40-24) before Purdue rallied to close the gap to 45-35 on a baseline jumper by Darmetris Kilgore with 15:09 left in the second half.
Freshman Mohamed Hachad gave the Wildcats a 50-37 lead with a three-pointer.
A pair of free throws by Kilgore pulled Purdue to within 52-44 at 9:26. Booker then stole the ball from Jennings near midcourt, dribbled the length of the floor and finished off the play with a two-hand jam to make it 52-46.
T.J. Parker answered with a three-point basket at the other end to make it 55-46 NU.
Purdue pulled to 65-59 with 1:43 to go before Deane came up with a NU turnover and drove toward the basket before blowing the layup.
Northwestern got 12 points from Jitim Young, 11 from Winston Blake and 10 from Hachad.
