Northwestern hosts Purdue Saturday at Welsh-Ryan Arena at 3 p.m. It will be a chance for the Wildcats to forget about two 20-plus point losses at Wisconsin and at Minnesota, with the loss against the Golden Gophers probably the tougher one to swallow. The Wildcats missed their first 14 shots and shot 36 percent.

"That night you try to forget about it, which is nearly impossible to do, because the whole plane ride home and when you go to sleep you think about how terribly you played and the next couple days you watch the film and break down and learn what you can do to improve," Drew Crawford said.

After watching the Minnesota film, Crawford said the Wildcats didn't make good shots -- hence the horrible field goal percentage -- and their defense wasn't all that bad. NU wasn't taking the best shots and got off to a slow start.

That has to change against the Boilermakers and hopefully the Wildcats' leading scorer, John Shurna, will be able to take a breather here and there. Shurna has, at times, struggled in the second half.

"I haven't really noticed John being any more tired than he usually is," Crawford said. "But playing as many minutes as he does, you get tired at the end of the game. He does have a more important scoring role this year than he did last year and we rely on him to score.

"But coach Carmody wants us on the court and we have to deliver even when we're winded."