AI-assisted summaryMichigan is looking to avenge its earlier loss and gain ground in the conference standings.Purdue leads the Big Ten conference by half a game over Michigan and Michigan State.The game is expected to be close, with Michigan having a chance to win if they can limit turnovers and get contributions from multiple players.Through 23 […]
AI-assisted summaryMichigan is looking to avenge its earlier loss and gain ground in the conference standings.Purdue leads the Big Ten conference by half a game over Michigan and Michigan State.The game is expected to be close, with Michigan having a chance to win if they can limit turnovers and get contributions from multiple players.Through 23 games of the Dusty May era, Michigan basketball has looked somewhere between good and really good on 22 occasions.
That said, U-M has led each team by decent margins − eight points vs. Penn State (52-44), nine points vs. Rutgers (30-21), 14 points vs. Oregon (64-50) and 18 points vs. Indiana (43-25) − yet in each of those games, the opponent came back to either tie or take the lead in the second half.Matchup: No. 17 Michigan (18-5, 10-2 Big Ten) vs. No. 7 Purdue (17-5, 11-2). ”We don’t use the word revenge, but we have to play much better basketball,” May said Monday morning of the mentality headed into the biggest game of the season to date. “We need to make some adjustments schematically, but more importantly our mindset. That was a tough night.
Wouldn’t you know it, the No. 7 Boilermakers (19-5, 11-2 Big Ten) are on tap for the return trip for what is a top-20 showdown with No. 17 Michigan (18-5, 10-2 Big Ten) Tuesday night at Crisler Center (7 p.m., Peacock).
RISING UP:Michigan basketball continues to climb in rankings as schedule reaches crescendoReady or not, here it is. And the thing is, U-M is ready. After its first four losses came by four points or fewer, U-M has figured out how to flip those tight contests into wins. This time against the Boilermakers, U-M has to keep it within striking distance. That way, it can pounce.Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
Michigan has four wins in a row, but only perhaps one of those is against a tournament team. Purdue isn’t just a postseason team, it’s a Final Four contender. Expect the best out of Donaldson and U-M to feature both halves of Area 51. But this game will come down to someone else. Perhaps Will Tschetter or Nimari Burnett, maybe Gayle, maybe Jones, but someone has to step up. In the biggest moment of the season, U-M comes through again. The pick: Michigan 81, Purdue 79.That’s the other aspect of this matchup, which only adds to the significant stakes. The Boilermakers currently lead the Big Ten by just half a game over both U-M and Michigan State (who still have two head-to-head matchups remaining) and already took their first matchup against the Wolverines.A win would give them a 1½ game lead over Michigan, plus a tiebreaker with the season-sweep, which would effectively make the lead 2½ games. On the flipside, a U-M victory would vault May’s team into at least a tie for first (MSU also plays Tuesday), with a slight edge over the Boilermakers.“This is a very big game on a lot of fronts,” May said. “No. 1 to show that we can compete with one of the best teams in the country. And yes, we want a championship, but we can’t win the championship (Tuesday). We’ve got to continue to improve, continue to stay the course.“(Former Michigan) Coach (John) Beilein gave me a quote a while back about dreaming big but focusing small. I think that’s well said … we’re certainly focusing on tweaks and nuances, how we can improve, how to stay fresh, how to stay healthy this time of year, but we’re definitely dreaming big.”Beyond that, all the main characters are the same from the first time around.
“Obviously everyone knows how that game went,” star forward Danny Wolf said postgame following U-M’s 70-67 win vs. IU. “We’re lucky that we get to play them twice this year. … We’re really excited for this opportunity to get that game back and solidify where we are in the standings.”
“We’re excited to see our growth,” May said. “That night, a lot didn’t go right for us. A lot went wrong. But Purdue caused most of it and so it’s going to be a tough game, but we’re we’re excited to go out and compete.”Tipoff: 7 p.m. Tuesday; Crisler Center, Ann Arbor.
Prediction
Since that night, U-M has played four times and won all four contests in tight fashion, each coming by either three or four points. Michigan, which has trailed for just more than 13 combined minutes during the winning streak and never by more than five points.
Now, U-M is on a mission to get back more than just its pride against Purdue.
Next up: Boilermakers
Purdue is coming off of a national championship appearance and was picked as the league favorite preseason. U-M was projected more in the middle of the pack and while some thought the NCAA tournament could be in their future, few expected this game to have these stakes.It’s a fantastic batting percentage, but it still leaves one game the Wolverines really want to forget. When the Wolverines were down in West Lafayette, Indiana, on Jan. 24, they found themselves down by double figures before the first media timeout, which was just the beginning. They trailed by 20 points or more then entire second half in what was a 91-64 run away win by Purdue.TV/radio: Peacock (online only, no broadcast); WWJ-AM (950).
