When Purdue throttled Michigan basketball in a home game earlier this season by 32 points in West Lafayette, it was demoralizing.
What happened Sunday afternoon, even though Purdue only won 84-76, felt in some ways as bad.
The Boilermakers and their fans turned Crisler Center into Mackey Arena North, alternating chants of ‘Boiler Up’ with ‘Let’s Go Boilers’ during various runs, and though U-M never buckled, it had to withstand what felt like an away crowd in its own building at times.
Purdue fans closed with a ‘whose-house, our-house’ chant with 20.3 ticks left, as Purdue sent U-M to its 15th loss in its past 17 games.
STILL FIGHTING: Michigan basketball, undermanned and struggling, but still fighting as Purdue looms
Michigan led by seven midway through the first half before Matt Painter’s crew closed the final 10:37 of the opening period on a 32-14 run. The game was in danger of getting out of hand when Purdue opened its lead to 14 early in the second half, but a 19-12 U-M spurt got the Wolverines as close as seven points with 11:15 to play.
Michigan would get that close again when Jace Howard hit a free throw with 3:14 to play, then again when Nimari Burnett drilled a long ball with 1:49 to go, however, one man was too large to overcome in every sense: Zach Edey.
Well-contained in the first meeting, the 7-foot-4 center was on another level entirely this time around. He had a career day and finished with a season-high 35 points and 15 rebounds as he drew nearly a dozen fouls by himself.
Though he didn’t do all the damage by himself down the stretch − the game was all but sealed with a Mason Gills long ball with 2:10 to play to go up 10 − his impact all afternoon was more than sufficient. Edey missed his first two shots of the day from the floor then made 13 of his next 14, finishing 14-for-18 on the day.
The Wolverines were balanced offensively, led by McDaniel who scored 19 (his most since he scored a career-high 33 vs. Florida in late December), while Burnett scored 12, all in the second half, Terrance Williams II added 11, Will Tschetter and Tray Jackson each had 10 and Howard scored eight, a career high.
Not enough in closing stretch
Jackson made a 3-pointer to cut U-M’s deficit to eight, 58-50, for the first time since the middle of the first half, when Edey began his dominant second-half stretch. He scored 11 of Purdue’s next 14 points as he made all four shots during the process, the last of which came on an and-1 with 9:17 to play to put the Boilermakers up 12.
But U-M kept coming. Tschetter hit a long ball to get within single digits, then Burnett added consecutive buckets, before a pair of McDaniel layups got Michigan back within eight, 78-70, with 4:08 to play.
Tarris Reed Jr. fouled out moments later on a loose ball foul and McDaniel had to hold back Juwan Howard from running on the court. Gillis and Burnett exchanged long balls to make it 81-74, before Edey’s free throws put Purdue up nine. Michigan would never get closer than seven again.
Michigan shot 48.3% (29 of 60) from the floor and 42.9% on 3-pointers (9-of-21), but was dominated down low by Edey and company as Purdue out-scored U-M in the paint (44-26) and on second-chance points (23-7).
One-man wrecking crew
Edey had the Wolverines − already short-handed without Olivier Nkamhoua (out for the season, wrist surgery) and guard Jaelin Llewellyn who was listed as ‘questionable’ in the Big Ten availability report but did not play with “general knee soreness,” per a team spokesman − in foul trouble from the get-go.
Reed picked up his first less than a minute into the game and his second four minutes in and he was forced to go to the bench.
Michigan seemingly couldn’t get a stop without him and needed his presence later in the half, but he picked up his third foul just more than two minutes after checking back in, and he had to sit the final six minutes, (exactly as much as he played) of the opening portion.
Tschetter, who had to play when Reed was on the bench, picked up his fourth at the 17:32 mark of the second half and fouled out with 7:38 to play in the game. Meanwhile, Burnett played just eight minutes before the break and didn’t record a single stat (other than a turnover) as he picked up three quick fouls.
Undermanned and overmatched, Michigan got off to another one of its patented fast starts.
Reed hit his lone shot of the half, McDaniel drilled a 3-pointer off a screen, Williams nailed a layup despite a foul and McDaniel hit another long ball. After Tschetter made a deep two of his own, Jackson added a dunk, Jace Howard made a jumper with his toe on the line and McDaniel made a slashing layup despite a foul on Edey, before giving the 7-foot-4 big man an extra stare.
The free throw made it 19-13 Michigan, as the Wolverines opened the game 8 of 10 from the floor and missed just one shot from the floor in a seven-minute span.
Purdue, meanwhile, started slowly. The Boilers hit just 5 of 18 shots to start, two of which were slams by Edey, and made only 1 of 7 long balls. When McDaniel threw a no-look, left-handed, under-hand outlet pass to Tschetter for an and-one layup, U-M took a 22-15 lead, before it all unraveled.
Purdue used an 8-0 run; an Edey turnaround, Camden Heide layup, Edey slam and then a Lance Jones offensive rebound and putback, to take its first lead of the game, before Jackson banked in a long ball to temporarily stem the tide.
The game would remain within two points each way for the next segment of the game, until the Wolverines took their final lead on a George Washington III 3-pointer from the right wing to go up 30-29 with 6:30 in the half.
From there, Purdue closed with an 18-6 stretch.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball has no answer for Zach Edey and Purdue, lose 84-76
