zach edey

Matched up with the #2 team in college basketball this afternoon, Michigan Men's Basketball strung together a decently valiant effort but came up short with another short-handed roster, a loss chalked up to defensive rebounding and foul trouble, some legitimate and some suspicious. Like most games, Michigan led for a large swath of the first half before trailing for much of the game thereafter, but never let Purdue bury them, even with excessive fouling hamstringing a roster already missing the injured big man Olivier Nkamhoua. Michigan hung around and hung around but ultimately couldn't make enough of a charge late and lost by high single digits. The Wolverines are now 8-20 (3-14), with three games left in the regular season. 

Before the game, Michigan got word that they would be without guard Jaelin Llewellyn, who was originally listed as questionable (in addition to the injured Nkamhoua). Will Tschetter was back after missing the Northwestern game, but a Michigan roster that wasn't deep to begin with sans two rotational pieces is in for a challenge, even when not facing an elite team like Purdue. The Wolverines, as they do most games, started pretty well, scoring the game's first five points and then led 10-4 on two Dug McDaniel three pointers. But even in this quick spurt, the problem of foul trouble was popping up. Center Tarris Reed Jr. picked up two fouls in the game's first 4.5 minutes while battling with Purdue superstar Zach Edey and went straight to the bench, putting the more undersized Will Tschetter (as well as Tray Jackson) in position to guard Edey. It wouldn't be long before Tschetter and Jackson would be racking up fouls of their own while giving up easy buckets inside. 

Stil, Michigan was hot out of the gate and generally shot the ball well all day. They led 19-13 via good ball movement and lights out shooting, allowing them to stay in front of the Boilers despite the fouls. Within 7.5 minutes of the game starting, there were seven team fouls against the Wolverines, placing Purdue into the bonus, including two on Reed, two on Jackson, and two on guard/wing Nimari Burnett. Foul trouble against Reed put Michigan in a disadvantageous matchup vs. Edey from a size perspective, and led to the ongoing theme of Purdue destroying Michigan on the glass. Just over nine minutes into the game Purdue was rebounding 56% of their misses(!!!) and that number wouldn't fluctuate much during the rest of the game. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

The extra possessions Purdue was getting via the OREBs allowed the Boilers to stay in the ballpark of the Wolverines while Michigan was shooting it well early. Purdue went on a small run to shave the lead down to 22-21 and the game eventually became tied at 25 at the under eight minute timeout. Forced to play unconventional lineups with George Washington III seeing extended time due to Burnett's foul issues, in addition to Jace Howard logging minutes in the front court because of the big fouls, Michigan eventually began to splinter and a hard Purdue charge surged them ahead before halftime. After Michigan led 30-29 on a Washington triple, Purdue closed the half on an 18-6 run, getting the final points on an Edey layup at the horn to lead 47-36. 

Given Michigan's tendency for catastrophic meltdowns in the second halves of games, it seemed like the rally by the road team (although the crowd was littered with fans in old gold and black who were quite noisy) may lead to a blowout in the second half. Instead, to Michigan's credit, they dug in and kept battling. Purdue bumped the lead up to 14 but Michigan punched back and got it down to single digits on a Burnett three and that's where the margin sat for most of the second half. Dug McDaniel played a pretty solid game and scored 10 in the second half, while Burnett rebounded from an ugly first half to score 12 in the latter stanza. Unfortunately, Michigan had no answer in the second half for Edey (or in either half really) dominating inside offensively and then a mix of size and hustle continued to annihilate Michigan on the glass. Purdue grabbed seven more second half offensive rebounds (five were Edey's) after ten in the first half. 

Michigan occasionally showed interest in mounting a charge but could never string together a run because they couldn't get stops consistently. They didn't slow Purdue's offense down much and when they forced misses, Purdue rebounded half of them. Foul trouble continued to mount, giving Edey increasingly easier matchups. Some of those fouls were dubious, including the fifth on Will Tschetter coming with 7:38 left in the game, and even more so the fifth on Reed. Michigan was down 78-70 with 3.5 minutes left in the offensive end, a missed three by McDaniel was loose rolling towards the sideline. Reed went for it and got tangled up with Lance Jones of Purdue, whistled for a foul that sent the home crowd into uproar. Juwan Howard charged out onto the court to vigorously argue with the referees, but was restrained by McDaniel, as well as members of the Michigan bench. The closest Michigan got the score down to was seven, but they ultimately ran out of time and lost by eight. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

In totality, the two teams shot similar clips from the field (47% Purdue, 48% Michigan), but Purdue made more free throws thanks to the Michigan fouls and attempted eight more field goals thanks to the offensive rebounding. That, plus Edey's dominance (35 points on 14/18!!), was the difference in the game. Michigan had a solid, efficient offensive day shooting 42.9% from three, but didn't have the right roster to win this game, not deep enough and not big enough, not to mention not good enough defensively. Maybe with Nkamhoua healthy they may have been able to pull off the upset, but this group was not set up to defeat a team with a dominant big man. Reed and Tschetter both fouled out and Jackson finished with four fouls. 

Michigan has now fallen to 8-20 on the season, 3-14 in the B1G, and has three regular season games remaining. As of this writing, Michigan State leads at home over Ohio State, which would put the Bucks two games ahead of Michigan in the race at the bottom of the standings. Michigan plays Ohio State next Sunday and in theory, finishing 2-1 with a win over OSU while OSU loses out would get Michigan out of the cellar because Michigan would own the head-to-head tiebreak. But it remains more likely that Michigan will finish dead-last in the conference, with Torvik projecting them to win only one of their final three games. It is not the hardest closing schedule, playing teams 13th and 12th in the standings on the road in Rutgers/OSU, as well as a mediocre Nebraska team at home. But this Michigan team hasn't been able to win many games, period, so strength of schedule only matters so much. The next game is this Thursday at 8:30 PM EST in Piscataway against Rutgers, scheduled to be broadcast on FS1. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]

THE ESSENTIALS

WHAT	#79 Michigan (7-11, 2-5 B10) at #2 Purdue (17-2, 6-2 B10)
WHERE	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
WHEN	9:00 PM
THE LINE	Kenpom: PU-17 Torvik: PU-20
TELEVISION	Peacock (streaming link)

THE OVERVIEW

Purdue Basketball is having its 2023 Michigan Football season, with a game-bending senior up front who put off the pros to get in a run with some underrated sophomores coming into their stardom. Also along for the ride are some longtime contributors who chose to come off the bench rather than transfer because This Right Here is The Year. They're led by a brilliant, 100% authentic, Hall of Fame coach whose one knock is an inability heretofore to win on the biggest stage.

The difference: Purdue Hoops ran over a murderer's row of Xavier, Zaga, Tennessee, Marquette, Bama, and Zona in the nonconference, then lost road games at both of the Big Ten's mediocre NUs.

Like 2023 Purdue Football, Michigan is a rickety nuisance that looks tougher on paper than the field of play, is playing this one without a critical guard, and is about to get steamrolled. There the comparisons end, except their visit to West Lafayette is being played far too late at night on Peacock.

If you're looking for reasons to get your login credentials back from your brother and stay up for the nadir of Michigan basketball since before Zak and Stu, it's that what Purdue does will work equally well on #3 Arizona or #95 Indiana. Until they prove otherwise, we can assume the general Painterness of this program that leads to upsets against Farleigh Dickinson is still baked in. Who's the Farleigh Dickinson now? We are. Go…wildcats? Corporals? [does a google] Knights!

[Hit THE JUMP for murder at the hands of good people.]

Michigan Basketball faced the #1 team in the country tonight without one of their two best offensive players in Jett Howard. They were unable to come away with a victory, a brutal stretch in the middle of the first period and not quite enough stops in the second half put the nail in the coffin, but it was still a solid showing considering circumstances. Hunter Dickinson led the Wolverines with 21 points, Kobe Bufkin put up 16 and carried a lot of weight in the second half, and Joey Baker, thrust into the starting lineup, had 11. It was a decent performance, but decent wasn't enough to win in a 75-70 defeat to Purdue. 

The game got off to a hot start, neither team capable of going cold on offense for the first eight or so minutes of action. The score sat at 22 apiece with 11:17 remaining in the first half, the two squads trading bucket after bucket with Michigan going to Dickinson early and often. He started the game off with a triple, made a layup, and then sunk a few free throws, scoring 8 of Michigan's first 13. Bench points started to come through the likes of a Will Tschetter three and a Tarris Reed Jr. dunk, but that score came with a caveat- he was hit with a soft technical foul, his third foul of the first half, forcing Michigan to dig deeper into its already thin depth. 

For Purdue, the offensive solution was going to star center Zach Edey. He scored the first seven points of the game for the Boilers and remained a problem inside, with a flurry of scores beginning the game-changing run for the visitors. After Michigan led 28-26 with 8:02 to play, Purdue would embark on a 15-0 run consuming nearly five minutes of game time. Edey got it started with a pair of shots made in the paint sandwiched around a David Jenkins Jr. three, and from there the Purdue offense was off and rolling. The lead eventually stretched to 41-28 with 3:06 remaining in the half when the Wolverines started to fight back, a solid spurt to end the half that allowed the game to feel semi-competitive at halftime. Kobe Bufkin's layup ended the drought for Michigan, Hunter Dickinson stepped out for a three and made a pair of free throws, and one final stop had Michigan into halftime only down seven, 41-35. 

That last three minute run gave Michigan a chance going into the break, but they were merely hanging in there on defense. The Boilermakers' offense scored at a scorching 1.27 PPP clip in the first half, 51.9% from the field and dominating inside, 40% from three, and as many turnovers as offensive rebounds (4). Michigan's offense got off to that hot start but their overall halftime numbers were not as impressive. They kept the turnovers low (2) and snatched five offensive boards, but shot only 11/29 (37.9%) from the floor. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

The second half started strong for Purdue, bouncing back quickly from Michigan's late run. Michigan turned it over on their first possession and the Boilers went up the court and the Michigan defense lost Fletcher Loyer in coverage. Matt Painter's squad got him the ball and he swished the three. Dickinson turned it over on the next Michigan possession and before long, Edey was laying it in for another quick make. 46-35, lead back to double digits just like that.

Purdue stayed ahead by about that margin for the next several minutes, but Michigan attempted to mount a run and they were led by Kobe Bufkin in doing so. Bufkin was finishing at the rim, hitting shots in the midrange, and then capped it with a three to trim the Purdue lead to 52-46 with 13:31 to go. It was during this stretch of the game that felt like it was now or never for the Michigan offense to make a run and to their credit, they were getting that offense. Bufkin was the star, but Dickinson chipped in, and a layup by Jace Howard slashed the lead down to five.

What they didn't have, however, was enough defense. For nearly the remainder of the game (up until the late Michigan push in the closing moments), every score or small run by the Maize & Blue was immediately countered with a basket or two by the Boilermakers that got the lead right back to where it was. After Howard's basket to make it a five point game, Michigan would spend the next 12 minutes never trailing by more than ten, but also never getting any closer than five. They could get scores, but couldn't get stops. Or they'd get a few stops, but couldn't get scores. Whatever it took, Purdue found just enough to stay a nose ahead of the Wolverines and salt away the final minutes from the scoreboard. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Michigan kept battling, and did put together a furious charge with under a minute to go. They were down nine points with 45 seconds left when Zach Edey turned it over. Then the mayhem started. Dickinson hit a three, Purdue turned it over under pressure from Joey Baker right off the in-bounds pass, but Michigan couldn't convert on the ensuing possession. However, Edey missed the front end of a one-and-one and Baker got a quick layup to trim the lead to four. Loyer made his free throws, but Michigan pulled even closer when Baker banked in a three with five seconds left. 73-70. Michigan fouled Brandon Newman and the last hope rested on Newman missing the front end of another one-and-one. Unfortunately, Newman made them both and the Purdue faithful could collectively exhale. The meaningless Michigan shot at the horn was off the mark and the game was over. 

Michigan is now 11-9 on the season and 5-4 in conference play. They are back in action on Sunday for the beginning of a two game road trip, battling the Penn State Nittany Lions this weekend. That game is a re-match of one that Michigan won at Crisler earlier this month. The game is scheduled for noon EST and will be broadcast on BTN. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]