All the free throws, the timeouts, the fouls and even a coach’s challenge made the end of Tuesday’s highly anticipated game between No. 1 Michigan and No. 7 Purdue felt somewhat anticlimactic, a sluggish march across the finish line.
When the buzzer finally sounded — crystalizing the Wolverines’ 91-80 victory that keeps them firmly in control of the Big Ten title race — point guard Elliot Cadeau simply clapped his hands. Standout forward Yaxel Lendeborg just jogged toward his team’s bench.
In some respects, such a mellow reaction was rather fitting for a Michigan team that secured its 21st victory of the season by double digits and is now 25-1 overall, the best start in school history. The Wolverines came into Mackey Arena, known for being one of the most difficult environments in college basketball, and promptly built a 20-point lead before halftime in a game they largely controlled from start to finish. For a team with bigger goals than simply beating No. 7 Purdue on the road, Tuesday’s result was just another step in the right direction.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg responds to off-court drama
Nimari Burnett and Yaxel Lendeborg of the Michigan Wolverines celebrate following the game against Purdue. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Already one of the most enticing games in a week bursting with top-10 matchups, the battle between Michigan and Purdue took on an added layer over the weekend when a video of Lendeborg, the Wolverines’ star forward, made waves on social media for his profanity-laced comments about the Boilermakers.
“When we see Purdue,” Lendeborg said in the video, “we gonna spank they f—— ass. We gonna beat they f—— ass. F— Purdue.”
Michigan coach Dusty May addressed the video during his weekly news conference in Ann Arbor on Monday, telling reporters that he believed it was recorded last spring, not long after Lendeborg committed to Michigan via the transfer portal following a standout career at UAB.
“I spoke at length with Yaxel about it,” May told reporters. “The most disappointing part of it is that he feels really bad about how he’s perceived from children and those that look up to him. He said, ‘Coach, I don’t even use that language in conversation. I don’t like the way it makes me look. I feel terrible about it.’ Then, obviously, how he’s perceived to our fan base and those that he cares about how it looks.
“It’s a great lesson. It’s one of the reasons he’s here. He wanted to learn to be a better pro. And to be a better pro, you need to have the mindset that you’re probably always being recorded. And if there’s ever a moment that someone can use that information against you, [they will].”
It was simple to know why the raucous crowd at Mackey Enviornment roared with delight when Lendeborg missed the sport’s opening shot on a 3-point try from the best wing, although he silenced those self same followers shortly thereafter by burying his second try. He added an help to capturing guard Roddy Gayle for the Wolverines’ second 3-pointer and later capitalized on a dimension mismatch in opposition to level guard Braden Smith for a straightforward bucket in transition, fueling a 17-3 Michigan run close to the halfway level of the half. Lendeborg completed the opening stanza with 10 factors, two rebounds and three assists whereas the Wolverines constructed a powerful 16-point lead.
It was precisely the form of response Could and his employees would have hoped for from their star.
2. Purdue crumbled in opposition to mammoth Michigan frontcourt
Purdue head coach Matt Painter appears on in the course of the second half in opposition to the Michigan Wolverines. (Photograph by Michael Hickey/Getty Photographs)
A couple of minutes into Tuesday’s broadcast, the tv cameras minimize to an outsized Purdue fan taking within the sport from courtside seats. School basketball followers in every single place would have acknowledged this large virtually instantly: former Boilermakers’ middle Zach Edey, who gained back-to-back Naismith Males’s School Participant of the Yr awards in 2022 and 2023, even reaching the nationwide championship sport in the course of the latter marketing campaign. His 7-foot-4 body appeared to fill your complete display screen.
On all nights — however particularly this one — the Boilermakers might have used somebody with Edey’s dimension when defending a Michigan frontcourt that’s among the many tallest and longest within the nation. When the Wolverines deploy Aday Mara at middle, Morez Johnson Jr. at energy ahead and Lendeborg at small ahead, which is a lineup mixture that Could depends on greater than another, the typical peak is 6 toes 11. Solely considered one of Purdue’s starters stands 6-foot-9 or taller.
Michigan’s enviable mix of peak and energy was enhanced on Tuesday by an aggression for offensive rebounding that the Boilermakers merely couldn’t match. A team-wide need to crash the glass generated one further alternative after one other, with back-tapped rebounds resulting in wide-open 3-point makes an attempt for the Wolverines’ array of shooters, who made eight of 16 makes an attempt from past the arc within the opening half. The 21-14 rebounding edge for Michigan in the course of the opening half gave approach to a 14-4 benefit in second-chance factors for Could’s group. The trio of Mara, Johnson and Lendeborg grabbed extra rebounds in the course of the opening 20 minutes (15) than Purdue’s complete workforce mixed (14).
Mara, particularly, proved menacing for Michigan at each ends of the ground with 10 factors, 11 rebounds and two blocks in simply 18 minutes earlier than fouling out. His closing rebounding tally exceeded every of his single-game totals from the final 17 contests since grabbing 11 in opposition to Rutgers on Dec. 6. He additionally contributed three or extra assists for the fourth straight sport.
3. Boilermakers want Braden Smith to attain in opposition to elite competitors
Greater than 21 minutes of sport time elapsed earlier than Purdue level guard Braden Smith, who leads the workforce in scoring at 14.7 factors per sport, lastly contributed a basket. By then — on the 18:37 mark of the second half — the Boilermakers had been already trailing by 17.
A possible first-team All-American for the second consecutive season, Smith regarded nothing of the type throughout a disjointed opening half by which he missed all 4 of his area objective makes an attempt. And whereas Smith had already contributed 5 assists by that time, lots of which got here on pick-and-roll alternatives with energy ahead Trey Kaufman-Renn (27 factors, 12 rebounds), he appeared perpetually dismayed by a Michigan protection that attacked him with a number of defenders and ranging physique varieties: from level guard Elliott Cadeau to middle Aday Mara and everybody in between, relying on which ball display screen protection the Wolverines selected.
Even in ending with 20 factors — all of which got here within the second half — Smith perpetuated a mildly regarding pattern by which he defaults on his accountability because the workforce’s major scorer in a few of Purdue’s greatest video games. He scored simply 13 factors in an additional time win over then-No. 7 Nebraska earlier this month, 11 factors in a win over then-No. 21 Auburn on Dec. 20, 11 factors in a loss to then-No. 10 Iowa State on Dec. 6 and 10 factors in a win over then-No. 15 Texas Tech on Nov. 21. The scoring outbursts he flashed in opposition to then-No. 11 Illinois (27 factors) after which No. 8 Alabama (29 factors) have felt extra like exception than rule.
As soon as upon a time, Purdue might survive extra pedestrian scoring nights from Smith in the course of the earlier parts of his profession when Edey, a strolling 20-point scorer, may very well be counted on to shoulder a lot of the load. However this 12 months’s squad, which has endured ups and downs from Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer and Oscar Cluff — the one different gamers averaging double-digit scoring — can’t climate lengthy stretches with out impactful contributions from Smith as each a passer and a shot-maker. That Smith was largely outplayed by Cadeau, who poured in 17 factors and dished out seven assists, should have been alarming for head coach Matt Painter and his employees to observe.
4. Large Ten title race will seemingly come all the way down to Michigan and Illinois
Roddy Gayle Jr. of the Michigan Wolverines rebounds the ball in opposition to Oscar Cluff of the Purdue Boilermakers. (Photograph by Michael Hickey/Getty Photographs)
Throughout the Large Ten on Tuesday evening, groups like Nebraska, Michigan State and even Wisconsin had been rooting ardently for the Boilermakers to upend Michigan and drive a wedge into this 12 months’s race for the common season convention title.
4 totally different groups started the night inside 1.5 video games of second place within the league standings. 5 totally different groups had been inside 3.5 video games of the Wolverines’ perch atop the pack. A loss by Michigan at Purdue — which was among the many groups chasing the maize and blue — would have reworked the following three weeks into an absolute frenzy. A half-dozen groups would nonetheless be clinging to hope.
As a substitute, it now appears more and more seemingly {that a} Feb. 27 showdown between Michigan and No. 10 Illinois at State Farm Heart in Champaign, Illinois, will determine the convention race. At 21-5 total and 12-3 within the league, the Illini at the moment are in second place within the Large Ten standings. The return of injured level guard Kylan Boswell, who averages 14 factors and 4.3 rebounds, offers head coach Brad Underwood one other viable scoring possibility for a workforce that already leads the nation in offensive effectivity.
The query now could be whether or not Illinois has sufficient firepower and consistency to chase down Michigan.
4½. What’s subsequent?
There’s little doubt that Michigan, which now owns an 11-game successful streak, is among the many greatest groups within the nation this season, given the style by which the Wolverines have clobbered most of their opponents: a scoring margin of plus-22.3 factors per sport coming into the matchup with Purdue that ranked second nationally total and first amongst groups from the ability conferences. However two issues will be true concurrently, which suggests the next statistic can’t be ignored: Getting into Tuesday’s sport, the Wolverines had performed the 18th-toughest convention schedule out of 18 groups within the Large Ten, in keeping with KenPom.
It implies that for pretty much as good as Michigan has been statistically this season, the Wolverines stay largely untested, even at this late juncture. An especially troublesome ending stretch ought to supply loads of perception into how good Could’s workforce actually is, starting with a visit to Washington, D.C. this weekend for a non-conference showdown in opposition to No. 3 Duke. The aforementioned street sport at No. 10 Illinois ought to show equally tough earlier than the regular-season finale at house in opposition to No. 15 Michigan State.
Purdue, which is all however eradicated from each the Large Ten title and a possible No. 1 seed within the NCAA Match, will now embark on a reasonably tough run of its personal within the coming weeks. A rivalry rematch with Indiana offers approach to a big house check in opposition to Michigan State on Feb. 26 that might vastly affect seeding for the Large Ten Match. And a regular-season finale in opposition to No. 24 Wisconsin seems far pricklier than it did two weeks in the past now that the Badgers have upset No. 8 Illinois and the Spartans in back-to-back video games, vaulting into the High 25.
