#BoilerNotes
- Purdue improved to 127-46 all-time against Northwestern, including 14-7 under Matt Painter ... Purdue is 9-3 against Northwestern in the last 12 meetings ... as a ranked team against the Wildcats, Purdue improved to 29-7 against Northwestern.
- Purdue's 25 wins are the ninth most in a season in school history ... Purdue's 51 wins since the start of last year are fifth most in consecutive seasons in school history ... the Boilermakers are now 51-15 (.773) since the start of last year.
- Purdue's 14 Big Ten wins are tied for the fifth most in a season in school history.
- Purdue went 6-3 on the road in Big Ten play, the seventh most in a season in school history ... Purdue had won six or more league road games just twice in the last 20 seasons (7 in 2010; 6 in 2008) ... in the 10 years that Purdue has won at least six Big Ten road games, it won or shared the conference title in nine of those seasons.
- Since the start of February, Purdue is 8-1.
- Purdue went 8-1 in Big Ten play when it scored 77 or fewer points.
- Purdue has had six comebacks this year when trailing by eight or more points at any juncture of the game.
- As a team, Purdue recorded its 29th double-double of the season, now tied for the third most in a season in school history.
- Purdue improved to 58-4 since the start of 2014-15 when attempting more free throws than its opponent.
- Purdue finished Big Ten play by shooting 81.5 percent from the free throw line in league play only ... the percentage is the second-best percentage in league history.
- Caleb Swanigan recorded his 25th double-double with 20 points, 14 rebounds and three assists ... the 25 double-doubles are now just one shy of the Big Ten record of 26 set by two different players ... he tallied his 13th 20-10 game of the season, the eighth most by a player in a season since the 2010-11 campaign ... Caleb Swanigan became the eighth player in Big Ten history in league games only to lead the league in scoring (18.9 PPG) and rebonding (12.6 RPG) ... Swanigan now has 579 points on the season, the most for a Purdue player since JaJuan Johnson had 698 in the 2010-11 season ... Swanigan needs 21 points for 600 points and 10 rebounds for 400 rebounds this season.
- Vincent Edwards tallied 25 points, five assists and four rebounds in the win over Northwestern ... he now needs just five rebounds and nine assists to become the second 1,000-point, 500-rebound, 300-assist player in Purdue history (E'Twaun Moore) ... over the last two games, Edwards is averaging 20.0 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 6.0 APG.
- Dakota Mathias scored 13 points with four rebounds and two steals ... Purdue is now 23-5 in his career (15-2 this year) when he scores 10+ points in a game ... Mathias also held Vic Law to 2-of-13 shooting and in the two games combined, Law went just 3-of-20 from the field against Mathias.
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) Vincent Edwards scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half and Caleb Swanigan added 20 points and 14 rebounds to help No. 16 Purdue beat Northwestern 69-65 on Sunday.
Purdue (25-6, 14-4 Big Ten) clinched the outright regular-season conference title earlier in the week, but had to hold on in the final seconds to fend off Northwestern (21-10, 10-8) in front of a raucous sellout crowd.
Bryant McIntosh finished with 25 points and six assists for Northwestern. The Wildcats have lost six of nine.
Swanigan had his nation-leading 25th double-double.
Swanigan's dunk gave Purdue a 59-50 lead with seven minutes remaining, but the Wildcats answered with a 7-0 run. Sanjay Lumpkin's putback got Northwestern to 60-59 with 3:14 left, but the Wildcats could never get ahead in the second half. Trailing 66-63, Nathan Taphorn airballed a 3 with 15 seconds left and Purdue closed the game by going 3 of 4 from the foul line.
Dererk Pardon's winning shot against Michigan on Wednesday night put Northwestern on the cusp of its first NCAA Tournament bid in the program's history.
In an earlier matchup, Purdue beat Northwestern 80-59 on Feb. 1 in West Lafayette. The Wildcats were missing Scottie Lindsey and Taphorn.
Northwestern, who has been featured nationally this week after the thrilling win on Wednesday, played in front of a nationally televised CBS audience for the first time since Feb. 5, 2011.
Swanigan's putback with 28 seconds left in the first half tied the game at 37. Mathias scored 12 points in the half and Swanigan added nine points and eight rebounds. McIntosh led the Wildcats with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
In the first half, Lindsey looked like he was getting back to the form he was in before he became ill with mononucleosis. He had eight points in the half. He was the team's leading scorer before the illness, but after missing four games he has struggled with his overall game.
Before the game, Northwestern honored seniors Lumpkin and Taphorn, who threw the full-court pass to set up Pardon's buzzer-beater Wednesday.
BIG PICTURE
Purdue: The Boilermakers continue to build a good NCAA resume going into postseason play by winning 8 of its last nine games.
Northwestern: With the Wildcats' recent slide, an NCAA bid might not be a sure thing if they lose in their second round Big Ten Tournament game.
UP NEXT
As the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament, Purdue bypasses to the quarterfinals and plays Friday. Northwestern gets a bye and will play in the second round Thursday.