Northwestern 63, Purdue 60. Is it over yet?

What do you say? Once again, Purdue played to the level of its opponent. Tonight (Last night? What day is it?) that opponent was a Northwestern team that - spare wins against IU and Illinois - has been unimpressive for most of this Big Ten season.

Tonight's officiating was a Bo Boroski production, meaning that it was absolutely shameful and should be investigated not just by the Big Ten, but by the United State's Congress. The calls were very inconsistent, often non-existent and... I don't have another -tent word. But it was bad. I'm not blaming the loss on this - Purdue was horrible, just read on for that part - BUT Purdue also had several chances to finish this game and got absolutely screwed by the refs.

With that said, Purdue hit TWO field goals in the final 12:47 of regulation PLUS the 10 minutes of overtime. That's nearly 23 minutes of basketball. That's more than one half of basketball. Think about that for a minute. It almost takes more work to be that bad than it does to just hit shots.

With that said, Northwestern didn't take a lead in this game until the second overtime. Yes, Purdue went 23 minutes with two field goals, and still lead or tied for almost all of that. That just blows my mind.

With that said and because it's late, here are some quick thoughts on this one:

1. A.J. Hammons was back to traveling tonight. Yes, many of the calls were because he was shoved, but when it's not called, you've gotta power through that and score the ball or pass it out. Too many turnovers there. Still, the big man was Purdue biggest offensive threat and, honestly, the Boilers ended up losing when they started going away from him in 2OT. By the way, he finished with a double-double, 17 points and 10 rebounds, while 11-16 from the foul line.
2. Purdue shot under 28% from the field. Ray Davis's 2-3 from the field made him the only Boiler to shoot better than 50%. Terone Johnson's 4-17 won the basketball equivalent of a Razzie Award for shooting. Still, I'm shocked this team went to TWO overtimes, making it through more than 45 minutes of basketball without trailing. Crazy.
3. Just to emphasize this, Purdue hit 16 field goals in 50 minutes of basketball. HALF of those were 3s. Crazy.
4. Another thing I want to come back to, Bo Borowski absolutely screwed Purdue by holding his whistle at the end of the first overtime. Even Tim Doyle, NW grad, is on the TV right now talking about how that's a foul.
5. I'm sure there's more, but it's late and I just want this game to go away. A win would've been great, especially given all that's transpired in the last 12 hours. At the same time, those same events kind of highlight the insignificance of the game in the big picture. Stay safe and Boiler Up, guys.