Northwestern took No. 2 Purdue to its limit, but the Wildcats suffered a 105-96 overtime loss on Wednesday night. Chris Collins made a dramatic exit right before the game could end.
As the final seconds ticked away, Northwestern’s head coach went onto the court and argued with the referees. He received a technical foul and got ejected.
After a player tried to hold his back, he continued barking at the officials before shaking hands with Purdue head coach Matt Painter. He then embraced Zach Edey while passing the Boilermakers’ sideline and waved his arms at the Mackey Arena crowd while going into the tunnel.
Here’s a look at the bizarre sequence:
At the buzzer Chris Collins is T’d up and ejected from the game and there is time back on the clock pic.twitter.com/eGqWsdAa8n
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 1, 2024
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Because of the technical, referees kept one second on the clock. Mason Gillis hit two free throws and then converted two more after Boo Buie received another technical.
Likely contributing to Collins’ frustration, Purdue attempted 46 free throws to Northwestern’s eight. Yet the nation’s No. 2 team gave the Wildcats an opening by missing 17 of them.
Northwestern rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit to go up by five with under three minutes remaining in the second half. Purdue answered back and sent the game into overtime, where Edey scored 10 of his 30 points.
The star big man also grabbed 15 rebounds in Purdue’s nail-biting win, and Lance Jones delivered a season-high 26 points. Northwestern received 25 points apiece from Buie and Ty Berry.
Despite Wednesday’s tough loss, Collins could still lead Northwestern to its first back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances ever. The Wildcats are 15-6 with a 6-4 record in Big Ten play.
Collins will look to regroup in time for Saturday afternoon’s game at Minnesota.