Michigan 71, Purdue 63
If this is Michigan rounding into final form, we're in for a very fun close to the season.
With Isaiah Livers back on the floor, the Wolverines went into Mackey Arena, where Purdue shoots like a peak Golden State team, and bodyslammed a desperate team to the mat before sitting on their flailing opponent for the second half. The Boilermakers shot 52% on two-pointers and 40% on three-pointers at home heading into today; before going 6-for-7 in desperation foul time, they went 15-for-40 (38%) on twos, and they hit only 4-of-16 threes on the game. This gave Michigan a season sweep of Purdue and their first win at Mackey since Glenn Robinson III's buzzer-beater in 2014.
Nowhere was the game more different from the initial matchup than in the middle. When Michigan needed double overtime to edge Purdue at Crisler, Trevion Williams popped off for a career-high 36 points on 15-for-28 shooting, and Juwan Howard left Jon Teske out on the floor for 39 minutes. Today, Williams needed three last-minute freebies to get to 8-for-21 from the field, scoring six of his team-high 18 when Michigan was happy to let him score.
Jon Teske had a huge turnaround from the first matchup [Campredon]
A step up in post defense from Jon Teske and Michigan's newfound depth were huge issues for Williams and center platoon partner Matt Haarms. In the first half, Howard mostly matched Teske with Haarms while pitting the physical Austin Davis against Williams to great effect. No matter the matchup in the second, it went well for the Wolverines. Haarms didn't score until well into the second half, finishing with four points and three turnovers.
A 6-for-25 mark from beyond the arc masked how well Michigan played on offense. The passing in this game was as good as I've ever seen it. The Wolverines had 17 assists on 25 field goals and turned the ball over three times, only one on a bad pass (the other two were travels). While Zavier Simpson led the team with six assists, he was far from the only player dishing out dimes; Teske had four dimes while Franz Wagner and David DeJulius had three each.
Wagner looked like the player we expected him to be next year. In addition to playmaking out of the pick-and-roll, he put up a career-high 22 points, going 6-for-8 from inside the arc and 3-for-5 beyond it, and added five rebounds and two steals. Livers, in his return from an ankle injury, made his presence felt all over the court and sunk all eight of his free throws to get to 19 points and seal the game late.
remembering that post-GRIII feel [Campredon]
Everyone who saw the court made winning plays. Teske and Davis were more physical than their counterparts. While Simpson didn't make a shot from the field, he got Wagner going, assisting all of his three-pointers. Livers attacked closeouts to break down the Purdue defense and played great defense, recording two blocks and a steal. Brandon Johns drove through an unsettled defense for an impressive lay-in. Eli Brooks dropped a pass between two defenders to hit Teske on a short roll for an open jumper. David DeJulius snuck into the paint to tip in a late Teske miss.
Suddenly, a team that looked razor-thin at times could dictate lineups and the run of play with their depth. DeJulius stepped into Brooks's role without missing a beat when the latter knocked heads with Nojel Eastern, leading to a bloodied face that knocked Brooks out of the game. Johns returned to the bench with Livers in the lineup and played 11 energetic minutes. Colin Castleton, the hero of the Rutgers game, wasn't even needed.
With their fifth straight victory and seventh in the last eight games, Michigan now stands at 18-9 overall and 9-7 in the Big Ten. That ties them with Rutgers for seventh in the conference and puts the Wolverines within a game of the top four and a coveted double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. While the closing stretch may be tough, nobody wants to face this Michigan team.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:29 PM ^
Defensive intensity was simply marvelous for a road game. DeJulius continues to improve on D.
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:33 PM ^
DDJ was a beast on D, Stefonovic really had a tough day because of him. I'm surprised he managed 13 points.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:01 PM ^
Stefonovic hit every three pointer he took. That guy is a beast behind the arc. Kudos to DDJ for keeping him at 13.
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:30 PM ^
I'd like to have seen Colin, if only to get him some minutes, I think he and the team would have benefited from that. Question is, who's minutes would he have taken?
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:50 PM ^
Yeah, Michigan is just so deep right now. Teske only played 26 minutes and Johns only 11. So you could argue that even Johns didn't play enough. And with Williams, you prefer the bulkier Davis to be the backup center rather than Castleton.
As expected, with Livers back, there just aren't enough minutes for Castleton. There will be plenty next year with Teske gone and possibly Livers.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:19 PM ^
Have you seen the potential haul of recruits we got coming in next year? I don't know about 'plenty' of minutes...
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:24 PM ^
There will be plenty unless Castleton isn't a viable Big ten center by next year which will have far more to do with him than anyone they're bringing in.
The competition for all 40 center minutes will be between Davis who has become a nice backup but will not be a guy that that can play more than 10-12 minutes and Dickinson who is a freshman center without elite athleticism. If they have turn to Todd at center, sure he has elite athleticism but he'd be a freshman and playing out of position and would be mostly a desperation move. That is not much competition.
If Castleton can't beat out all of them by his junior year, it will be disappointing.
February 24th, 2020 at 11:51 AM ^
watching Austin Davis NOT get bullied down into the paint like Teske was in the first game was a beautiful thing to watch, plus as was noted elsewhere Michigan making him pick up his dribble was good strategy to stop him.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:54 PM ^
As a reward for last game as much as anything. I was surprised Coach didn't call on Special Agent Castleton. Disappointed too. I wanted to see if he could repeat last game
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:20 PM ^
Wasn’t the best matchup for him. Williams is too burly. Their 4 Frenchman was a non factor and Livers and Johns we’re playing well so no need to use him there. Only way for him to play is if Haarms had more minutes than Teske.
February 22nd, 2020 at 10:55 PM ^
I couldn't care less about castletons minutes today. What juwan did worked and got the big road W.
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:38 PM ^
I'm confused. For most of the games in this winning streak, Zavier has given what appears to be a dominating performance. Yet, his +/- numbers are habitually among the worst on the team. (Today, he was +3 in 35 minutes; only the fifth best on the team.). I can't figure out the reason for this anomaly. I'd seriously like too hear others' reasoning as to what's going on.
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:58 PM ^
I'm not sure about the other games, but today his +/- was dragged down by the massive fouling (and some missed FTs) and flurry of late Purdue points in the last 3 minutes. Purdue outscored us by seven over that time, so Simpson must have been +10 before then.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:06 PM ^
Raw +/- is HIGHLY variable and when the other nine guys on the court are not taken into account, it's usefulness is limited. That's why adjusted +/- is preferred and box +/- is secondarily used by advanced statisticians. Simpson shot horribly today so it makes sense that he was "only" +3 out of M's overall +8.
He was dominant against MSU and led the team in +/- at +15.
The Northwestern game is a crazy one. He was relatively quiet but didn't have a bad game by any means. His Ortg was 104 but somehow he was -6 in 23 min? That seems nearly impossible for a game that you win by 25 since the other 17 min would have to be +31. But that's a good examble of the noise.
If you doubt his importance and how good he is, check out Ace's post from yesterday to see how good Michigan is running pick and rolls and defending pick and rolls, which Simpson is largely responsible for.
February 24th, 2020 at 12:01 PM ^
thanks for this post explaining all the #'s.
he shot poorly and we still won by almost double digits.
the +- #'s don't tell everything as you point out.
February 22nd, 2020 at 7:27 PM ^
It is called delusional fan syndrome-plain and simple. There is nothing dominating about X's play. Seldom is his +/- above the winning margin...and there is a damn good reason for it. Stats: There should be no assist given for your teammate making three pointers. And, as a PG, when a shot goes up, you are a free/extra person on defense who can float inside and poach rebounds at will. Here, if all ones knows to do is to look at stats-one's picture/assessment of value is very distorted.
UCLA vs Colorado was on this afternoon-had never seen Colorado play...so I was curious. Holy Cow-Colorado has a PG!!! They may be a tough out in the big tournament.
February 22nd, 2020 at 7:29 PM ^
Speaking of delusional
February 22nd, 2020 at 7:57 PM ^
This may be the dumbest post on this website I’ve ever seen from a non troll. Thank you for letting me know to never take anything you say seriously ever again.
February 22nd, 2020 at 8:23 PM ^
I'll only address one of your terrible observations.
Assists on 3 point shots should count for more. 3 pointers are a prime focus of both defenses and offenses in today's game, NBA and college. Getting open looks from 3 for good shooters is not easy. To get those assists often requires pulling a defender towards you. The made shots are worth more and good passes are somewhat less likely to be rewarded in the assist column.
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:25 PM ^
That’s an interesting new stat you could create. Like how efg% counts 3s more than 2s. You could make EAsst. Maybe it already exists.
Also outsidethebox, what are you saying? A lot of your posts on basketball topics are nonsense.
February 23rd, 2020 at 3:36 AM ^
I believe there was a stat like this that was described on the site last year. I think the stat was “points per assist” — how many points your team averaged for each assist you made — and Zavier Simpson was leading the country. Michigan averaged something like 2.45 points on each assist from X, which meant he was assisting on a ton of 3s.
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:24 PM ^
Holy shit this comment, haha
February 23rd, 2020 at 8:46 AM ^
Y'all are a hoot. I did not need any confirmation of the breadth of ignorance regarding this great game... but you are offering it anyway. Simpson is on the lower side of average, more toward mediocre, of D1 basketball players. Simpson is not a significant player/reason for this team's success. And if an 0-10/4-8 shooting game does not inform you of this absolutely nothing will. Y'all want to hang your hat on statistics-there you go...and another +/- game below the margin of victory. Thank goodness his play is not declining to a level that the team cannot compensate. Zavier gives great effort-for which he, deservedly, receives great credit...but the praises beyond that are simply silly. Many of you think my POV here is crazy but the fact is that you need to get a very large dose of knowledge and objectivity and go take a long look in the mirror because otherwise I have to seriously question what informs you.
Juwan and the staff have done an incredible job of coaching here-with regard to the use of X specifically. Preseason, I did not see how this could be accomplished given the prominent roll Simpson had been afforded previously and the thin and unproven-ness of this roster. But Juwan has been successful with each and every player on this roster-through the thick and thin of the fan criticism...he has kept every player engaged. This is remarkable and very difficult to do. Clearly Juwan and his staff have given great thought as to the options and challenges they had in front of them in this regard. And that they have kept these issues at a positive level within the room is most remarkable. That this team is at 18 wins at this time is a testament to this staff. In my world, Juwan is coach of the year in college basketball...nobody has done as much with such a small margin of error...simply remarkable.
Each of us are individually informed and I trust the quality and quantity of the sample that informs me. There are many variables in play here. Believe what you wish
February 23rd, 2020 at 10:15 AM ^
X is our best player. He’s one of the best PGs in America. You're wrong. Objectively.
February 23rd, 2020 at 11:50 AM ^
Whatever numbers you're looking at aside, anybody who knows anything about the intangibles of sport knows that Simpson is and has been the tip of the spear for this team for a couple of years. He's the fucking MAN. I guarantee you every guy in that locker room would concede that. Go back to Fortnite.
February 23rd, 2020 at 11:45 AM ^
You may be "outside the box" but you're NOT exactly thinking there, friend-o...
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:41 PM ^
It’s hard not to imagine where this team could be with a healthy livers all year. I wrote them off myself, but looking back, his presence on both ends of the floor could have put them over the top in a few of their close losses. Had he been healthy, we may be talking about a potential big ten title. Either way, I’m happy with how this team has progressed since the mid season slump, and can’t wait for post season play to start.
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:49 PM ^
If Livers hadn’t gotten hurt the second time, nevermind the first, gotta think Michigan would be on a 9 game winning streak, in second place in the Big Ten and staring at a season-ending game at Maryland for at least a share of the title.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:13 PM ^
Almost certainly would have beat Illinois and OSU had he not gotten hurt in the Illinois game (M was up one and in the midst of an impressive run that immediately went the other way).
But even if they had won those, they'd be 11-5 in the conference and needing some help for the Maryland game to matter since they'd be two games behind right now.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:30 PM ^
Two games and playing them is really only one game back, assuming you win that game. Maryland has probably a tougher schedule to close things out. If Michigan was 11-5, they’d definitely have a chance at a share.
February 22nd, 2020 at 7:33 PM ^
But if he'd never been hurt at all, those trips to Minneapolis and Iowa City were very winnable, too.
February 22nd, 2020 at 11:01 PM ^
MD has their tough stretch coming. I could see them lose 3 games before even playing us the final game.
February 24th, 2020 at 12:03 PM ^
agree, Livers getting hurt vs Illinois took the air out of the arena as well as the team.
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:45 PM ^
Is this a Quad 1 win?
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:50 PM ^
Yes. Top 75, I believe, on the road is a Q1.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:14 PM ^
Yes, comfortably a Q1 win. It does mean the home win v Purdue almost certainly won't end up a Q1 win since they'd have had to finish top 30 for that to be Q1.
February 22nd, 2020 at 5:54 PM ^
This has got to be the most jam packed the B1G has ever been. The teams in 2nd and 8th place are only separated by 1.5 games. 7 teams will be playing the next couple of weeks for 3 spots. If Michigan can finish as well as they’ve been playing this month, they’ll have a great chance of getting one of them.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:00 PM ^
Only 3 turnovers in a hostile environment is encouraging to see.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:36 PM ^
That won Michigan the game. Not only was it a hostile environment, Purdue's calling card is forcing TOs. They're #1 in the conference play at forcing TOs. They help super aggressively which gets steals and TOs. The downside is they give up a ton of threes when teams are able to pass away from the help.
Michigan shot under 50% from 2 and just 6-25 (yikes!) but the fact that nearly every possession ended in a shot, and more critically, they only had the ball stolen once (!!!) meant they didn't give up easy transition buckets and that's a death knell for Purdue's offense. Game over.
I have to admit, early in the season when Michigan was playing relatively up tempo and turning it over, I thought Howard's pace and (as I theorized) lack of discipline compared to Beilein, was the culprit. There is clearly no concern about that now and they've pulled back considerably on the throttle too. The discipline and specific types of players that Beilein recruited to not turn it over could very well be a Wile E Coyote carryover that fades away but I'm impressed with this coaching staff so far to be sure.
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:02 PM ^
No. It was not.
Maybe the last three minutes of the game when Purdue come back at 9points.
For the rest of the time it was a very quiet and not so good crowd.
I am utterly disappointed by Mackey. Michigan really cut the grass under the foot of everybody in the first few minutes of the game
February 23rd, 2020 at 7:24 AM ^
Another stat that was big was the assists. We got ourselves in position to make easier shots on a day when we weren't shooting the ball well. Actually, steals were up there too, 8-1 if I remember correctly. So, plenty of team stats really shined; this team really enjoys playing together
February 25th, 2020 at 12:02 AM ^
Yeah, Purdue's super aggressive help defense makes it such that assists are fairly easy to come by IF you can find the open man with bodies and windmills being flug at you. They don't let you sit and go one on one much.
So the fact Michigan was able to find the open guys without turning it over trying was the difference.
February 22nd, 2020 at 8:32 PM ^
This game was not as close as the score indicates. Wide open 3s were missed all day. The offense was really humming and there were very few possessions where we didn’t get a great look. We need to hit some of those shots to be a Final Four team.
But damn, if we play defense like that, we really will have a chance against anyone even if the shooting isn’t lights out.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:10 AM ^
I love the direction this team has taken lately, but you are spot on about the shooting. Defense creates the opportunities, offense takes advantage. Shooting needs to be better than it is right now if they're going to get past the second weekend of the tournament.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:30 PM ^
So, I missed watching the game live yesterday and just watched the replay.
I wanted to log in and complement Robbie Hummel's work on the broadcast. I think his analysis is fantastic. He's pointed, sharp, and just locked in to a bunch of subtle things that he's able to comment on in real time without dominating or interfering with the game flow.
Plus, he did yesterday's game as a former Purdue player, at a Purdue home game that Purdue really needed, on the day Purdue inducted him into its hall of fame (!), and was, as far as I can tell, completely objective.
Sorry if someone else made this point somewhere else...
February 24th, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^
I was at a bar and couldn't hear the commentary for this game, but from the games I've seen with him on he's by far the best on the Big Ten Network.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:04 PM ^
Great to see Wagner coming into form offensively. Can't imagine what this season would have been like w/o the injuries to Livers and Wagner.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:06 PM ^
I missed the first half, but what I saw in the second half... Teske is back... he was that great presence from last season.
And lets hope Brooks is ok... he is a great player and deserves our well wishes, and we need him.
And we better be ranked... I can't count more than 8 teams that could be argued that are better than us...and we aren't ranked... am surprised at the coaches poll too.. they should know how good we were with Livers. Livers btw, is gone.... I'll be shocked if he stays.... the impact he has had on the team is so profound and to me that is evidence of his skill. I want him to stay another year but I'd bet he is going to NBA next season.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:21 PM ^
The first half was fantastic; I'd definitely watch it. We looked like world beaters.
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:08 PM ^
This game was a fascinating argument for and against the Elam ending. The first dead ball under four minutes came at 2:25 with Michigan leading 57-45. Under TBT Elam rules, the target score would have been 65.
Argument against - Michigan's crappy free throw shooting and Purdue's strategy gave Purdue some hope down the stretch, though they never got closer than within 8.
Argument for - the last 2:25 took forever and was nothing like the rest of the game. Michigan was in total control and it's dumb and boring to watch Michigan stop playing real defense and shoot a million free throws.
Personally, I'd have preferred the Elam in this game.
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