No. 18 Purdue cruises to back-to-back win over Northwestern

Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff each had 19 points as No. 18 Purdue ended Northwestern’s dream with an 81-68 win in the Big Ten Conference tournament in Chicago on Thursday.

Fletcher Loyer added 14 points and Cluff pulled down 10 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Boilermakers (24-8). The Boilermakers (24-8) limped into the postseason, going 2-4 in their last six games, but held off the 15th-seeded Wildcats (15-19) in a bruising inside game.

Braden Smith scored five points but set a new Big Ten tournament single-game record with 16 assists. Purdue pounded Northwestern inside, building a 38-18 advantage in points in the paint. The Boilermakers advanced to the quarterfinals Friday against second-seeded Nebraska.

Nick Martinelli scored a game-high 25 points, Jayden Reid had 19 points and nine assists and Jordan Clayton had 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 never trailed and 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, 45-21.

A strong inside game gradually opened up space for the Boilermakers from 3-point range. Smith hit a 3 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 to Kaufman-Renn as the Purdue lead grew to 23-11 thanks to a 12-4 scoring surge.

When Smith hit Harris for a 3 from the corner as part of a 10-0 rally (which also included a Kaufman-Renn and Cluff layup 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 inch within 52-33. Back-to-back 3s from Reid and Clayton highlighted a 16-5 Northwestern run that cut Purdue’s lead to 71-57 with 7 to play.

–Field level media