WEST LAFAYETTE — All it took was a dominant first eight minutes for No. 11 to settle Friday night’s matchup and knock the No. 21 Michigan men’s basketball team off its track.
As the Boilermakers came off the block sprinting, the Wolverines simply struggled to hold onto the ball. On Michigan’s first two offensive possessions, it turned the ball over — and Purdue capitalized on the other end immediately. By the 16:32 mark in the first half, the Wolverines had accumulated five turnovers and found themselves in a 11-point deficit.
Already with a double-digit lead out of the first media timeout, the Boilermakers quickly added to it. Purdue made two 3-pointers back to back while Michigan missed two in a row. And to cap off a 14-3 run that elapsed for nearly the next four minutes, Purdue star guard Braden Smith lobbed up an alley-oop from the 3-point line to extend the lead.
Before the Wolverines even had time to assess what was going wrong, they were down by 20 points.
Michigan didn’t get anything to go. Riddled by 10 turnovers while shooting 1-for-19 from deep in the first half alone, the Wolverines (14-5 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) fell in too deep of a hole to climb out of as the Boilermakers (16-5, 8-2) took care of business at home, 91-64.
By the midway point in the first half, Michigan had nine turnovers, 13 points and was down by 23. The combination of the Wolverines’ inability to put the ball into the net and giving the Boilermakers far more possession caused Michigan to fall behind.
What made the Wolverines’ first half turnovers so detrimental was the fact that they were forced by Purdue’s eight steals. The live-ball turnovers allowed for the Boilermakers to run the floor and convert on the other end with 18 points off turnovers compared to Michigan’s two in the first half.
By the time the Wolverines did make any sort of a run, a 6-0 run with five minutes left in the first half at that, it only narrowed the deficit from 19 points to 13. And by halftime, the Wolverines were down by 25.
Michigan was just looking to knock the Boilermakers and the rowdy Mackey Arena slightly off their tracks to get something to go. But after four minutes of the second half, it was easy to tell that Purdue wasn’t going to lose any steam. The Wolverines scored the opening field goal of the half but surrendered two quick field goals on the other end to put early nails in the coffin.
It didn’t take long for Purdue to settle into its ranked contest against Michigan. Up by 20 points and forcing eight turnovers by the second media timeout, the Boilermakers were in complete control and the Wolverines were essentially destined to fall for the second time in Big Ten play.
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