matt painter

The extent to which you're satisfied with Michigan's loss in West Lafayette probably depends on how comfortable you are with moral victories when the Wolverines are 11-9 overall and 5-5 in the B1G. The visitors rolled into Mackey Arena in search of a marquee victory, and they did not get one. They did, however, hang around for the entire 40 minutes, staying in a game that seemed like it was sliding away at several key moments. Is that enough to be happy about? Again, that depends on who you are. 

It started pretty ominously, with Eli Brooks airballing Michigan's first field goal attempt (it was a three-pointer), followed by Sasha Stefanovic nailing a three. A few minutes later, Caleb Houstan airballed Michigan's second three point attempt. Purdue had quickly sprinted out to a 20-8 lead and it rapidly appeared that Michigan was in huge trouble and a rout was on. That's around the point that the shots started to go down in rapid succession for the Wolverines, as the whole team heated up in a hurry. From airballing threes to suddenly knocking every shot, the half turned around fast. 

Between the 9:57 mark and the 4:34 mark, Michigan hit five three pointers, on just eight attempts. Purdue's offense also began to dry up, continuing to find success inside (more on that later), but their three point shooting slowed down, while Michigan was sniping. Hunter Dickinson's expanded three point shot was on display during this period, making back-to-back threes at one juncture, and he could've made four threes had he not had his toe on the line for two attempts. The result? The Maize & Blue had worked their way back into the contest, down just 32-31 when Dickinson hit that second three pointer.

The threes suddenly started falling [Campredon]

Unfortunately, they didn't do enough in the final four minutes of the half to pull even, all the while the defense struggled to corral defensive rebounds and gave Purdue too many extra possessions. Purdue led by six at the break, 39-33, even though Michigan led in eFG% in the first frame (5/12 on threes!), because Purdue rebounded 42% of their misses. Another factor was the lack of whistles. In fact, Purdue didn't get whistled for a single foul in the first half. To be clear, the home team didn't commit many foul worthy plays, playing a clean half of basketball, but to go twenty minutes without a foul is a rare anomaly worth noting. 

The second half featured a lot of Hunter Dickinson early on, scoring six of Michigan's first eleven points to begin the second stanza and pulling the Wolverines closer. He was avoiding fouls on defense, flashing his perimeter shooting, and battling inside. Michigan had dwindled the score to 45-44 with 16:51 to go in the contest, before Purdue surged on a 10-0 run supercharged by star guard Jaden Ivey. Matt Painter began to call ball screens for the explosive Ivey, a departure from the usual script for the team that calls the fewest ball screens in the B1G. Painter saw a matchup that Michigan remains extremely vulnerable to, and used his talent to exploit it ruthlessly. Ivey scored six straight points at the rack during that run, and it led to another moment when it seemed like the game was sliding away from the Wolverines. 

Jace alert! [Campredon]

But again, Michigan kept fighting. They made very little progress in terms of clawing back to a tie, but they didn't let the contest get out of hand. After Purdue led 61-49 with 11:43 left, the Boilermaker lead never swelled beyond 12, but it also didn't get cut to five or less until there were under 6 minutes to go. Part of the success that Michigan found in stymying Purdue was going to a 1-2-2 full court press. They forced a ten second violation and limited the amount of time Purdue had in the shot clock to set up their offense once they actually got into the front court, slowing down an attack that was functioning at full power. Jace Howard saw the floor during this stretch, and was a key part of that defensive configuration, while Dickinson and the two senior guards, Brooks and DeVante' Jones, did the scoring. 

A Dickinson jumper brought the score to 68-63 with 5:44 to go, and a couple minutes later it was 74-69. Michigan needed a couple stops to make this one more than a moral victory but their achilles heel, defensive rebounding, struck again. Purdue center Trevion Williams bricked the front end of a one-and-one, but Purdue snagged the offensive board, set up their offense, and Ivey converted on a layup. DeVante' Jones responded by hitting a three to cut it to 76-72, the closest the margin had been since early in the second half. 

The Wolverines got the stop they needed, but Trevion Williams stripped Dickinson on the baseline and a review gave the ball to the Boilermakers thanks to the Charles Matthews vs. Purdue 2018 Review rule. Ivey drew a foul, hit both free throws, and then Jones' pass deflected off Dickinson and out of bounds for another turnover. 78-72 with one minute to go, and Purdue held the ball. At this point, it was functionally over. The home team made their free throws, and Michigan would never get the margin any closer. Final score: 82-76. 

Trevion Williams was also dominant today [Campredon]

It was another phenomenal offensive performance from Dickinson, 28 points in 36 minutes on 12/17 from the field (2/3 from three), and perfect at the line. Grabbing only two defensive rebounds and four turnovers will haunt him, though. Jones posted 13 points on 5/7 from the field (with three turnovers), while Eli Brooks and Caleb Houstan were much rougher. Moussa Diabate was a non-factor offensively, scoring only two points in 17 minutes. Kobe Bufkin and Brandon Johns Jr. each hit threes for their only points, while Terrance Williams II scored six points in 18 minutes to lead bench scorers. Frankie Collins played eight minutes that were rather rough offensively, missing two threes that weren't close. 

Despite all those high notes, 55.8% from the field and 8/18 from three as a team, Michigan could not get stops consistently. Time and time again we have seen that this defense is just not good enough, allowing Purdue to shot >50% from the field despite going very cold from three. The Boilermakers were 62.5% from two (!!!!). They rebounded a shade under 40% of their misses, destroying Michigan inside and exploiting the PNR. Trevion Williams was 7/8 from the field while Zach Edey was 5/12 and they combined to snatch eight offensive rebounds. Only Ivey going 0/6 from three held Purdue from scoring 90+. 

In all, Michigan had a solid showing of fight and resolve, but they have to start winning some of these games against top tier B1G competition. Moral victories against Purdue and Illinois on the road won't help you much when you don't have any marquee victories on your resume and you're barely above .500. The good news is that Michigan has more shots coming this week. After an easier game @PSU on Tuesday, they get a rematch with these Boilermakers at Crisler on Thursday, as well as a top 25 Ohio State team at Crisler on Saturday. This week could very well make or break Michigan's tourney chances.

The game on Tuesday is scheduled for 9:00 PM and will be on ESPN2. There is no content after the jump. 

[waves hand]

You did not see this post hit the front page for two minutes earlier today right as Nojel Eastern announced his transfer plans.

Ari Wiggins Commits to WBB

The commitment video of Indianapolis Heritage Christian guard Ari Wiggins, who made her announcement earlier this week, is well worth a few minutes of your time.

Wiggins is the #12 overall 2021 player and #4 point guard on Prospects Nation and #30 overall on ESPN; both rate her as a five-star prospect. ESPN also gives five stars to Michigan's other 2021 pledge, Cincinnati guard Laila Phelia. Prospects Nation likes Wiggins a great deal whether the 5'8" guard is running the point or hunting shots:

Wiggins looks and plays vastly more mature now than she did when we first saw her as a freshman. She's a dynamic option who likes to get downhill off the bounce. Wiggins is super explosive in that regard but also showed here the ability to knockdown the open 3-pointer. A left-handed dominant guard, Wiggins gives Michigan a potential threat on or off the ball.

ESPN's robust women's hoops scouting service has three camp reports of similar ilk. They see her as an explosive combo guard:

Boo Williams Invitational-April 2019: Athletic combo-guard explodes off the dribble, brings attack mode in transition game; handles in transition, changes pace; rises on jumper in mid-range game, emerging deep threat arsenal. (Olson)

The 5'11" Phelia should also bring athleticism and scoring ability to the table, according to ESPN:

Classic-in-the-Country Challenge-January 2020: Athletic guard manufactures shots, knocks down jumpers at the arc; executes in half-court game, creates into the defense, rises over defenders and delivers in mid-range game; competes on both ends of the floor; among the elite guards in the class of 2021. (Olson)

This class follows a four-signee class of 2020 that includes ESPN five-star Cameron Williams and three others rated as four-star recruits by Prospects Nation, topped by their #40 overall recruit, guard Meghan Fiso. (I wrote plenty more on that class in my early look at the 2020-21 season.)

Kim Barnes Arico is putting together a program with the talent to make a serious run at the top of the Big Ten and a chance to make some noise nationally. The 2021-22 roster, which is projected to be led by senior versions of Naz Hillmon and Amy Dilk, looks particularly loaded. We're already pretty much there—this is looking like the golden era of Michigan women's basketball. There's ample room on the bandwagon.

[Hit THE JUMP for a couple MBB transfer possibilities, Matt Painter's bad quote, and more.]

Sponsor Note. Let's say you've cloned a hundred duck-sized horses and want people to fight them. That sounds like something with a lot of legal complications. Is cloning… within the city… that ain't legal either? What happens if someone gets hurt? When someone gets hurt, more like it. It's a tough balance between the incredible appeal of finding out whether you can beat 100 duck-sized horses in a fight and the potential to be sued into the ground.

Well, have I got the guy for you.

Richard Hoeg knows this stuff, backwards and forwards. He's a business lawyer from the law factory who can tell you whether or not you should proceed with your idea. (Even if he says no you clearly should.) He'll get you set up with a legal framework to cope with the inevitable disasters if you decide to proceed (which you clearly will). And insofar as anyone can be protected from the law while running a business that is essentially cockfighting between miniaturized charismatic megafauna and humans, you will be.

What other lawyer can say that?

SNACKS! Sometimes there's a thing that gets put in your twitter feed 20 times and every time you click on it. This is one of those things:

JSU wild. Ya love to see it. pic.twitter.com/EzZ5OzcBr2

— Dorian (@AllHailDorian) March 3, 2020

Jackson State was super efficient at feeding Snacks shots; he got four up in his two minutes. This led to a Kenpom glitch: Snacks finishes his career with 82% usage and, uh, took 137% of JSU shots when he was on the floor?

A legendary Kenpom page.

You may remember Snacks from the quintessential Tacko Fall reaction video:

Still our favorite video of Tacko Fall

pic.twitter.com/GV5VTMaDrd

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) December 10, 2019

Someone's gotta hire the play by play guy. Anyone who can exclaim "SNACKS" like that needs to be doing the NCAA tournament.

[After THE JUMP: distressing times at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.]