Michigan 61, Purdue 56
Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog
Derrick Walton had taken nine shots. None of them had gone in. With Michigan improbably within three points in the waning minutes against Purdue, however, he crossed over PJ Thompson and charged into the paint, laying his first bucket in off the glass as AJ Hammons knocked him to the floor.
While Walton missed his chance to tie the game at the line, he more than redeemed himself, pulling down two signature high-flying defensive rebounds and making 4/4 free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal the victory.
On the afternoon Caris LeVert finally returned to the court, only to play 11 scoreless first-half minutes before sitting out the second half, Zak Irvin also played out a redemption tale. Coming off an ugly 1/8 performance against Minnesota, Irvin went 2/7 in the first half and had his first shot of the second swatted by Hammons. Then he heated up from the outside and turned around his battle with burly Purdue forward Caleb Swanigan, scoring 16 of his 22 points in the second half, including the winning points on a pull-up from the free-throw line with 1:09 remaining that barely crested over Hammons' fingertips.
Despite inconsistent performances from their stars, foul trouble for Mark Donnal, and Rapheal Davis once again eliminating Duncan Robinson (4 points, 0/1 3P) from the offense, Michigan found a way to win. To earn it, they had to lean on defense and rebounding.
No, really.
Against the best rebounding team in the conference on both ends of the floor, Michigan won the battle of the boards, pulling down 28% of their misses to Purdue's 20%. While Swanigan (14 points, 6/9 FG) proved tough to handle, the bigs collectively slowed the two-headed center monster of Hammons and Isaac Haas (combined 21 points on 24 shots) with help from timely double-teams by the guards.
That's how Michigan could go 5/20 from three and still beat a team that presents major matchup issues. Purdue went 6/12 from beyond the arc but only 15/41 within it, and the second chances they normally rely upon weren't available very often. Days removed from one of the most demoralizing weeks in recent memory, Michigan is 9-4 in the Big Ten, all alone in fourth place and needing only two wins in their final five games—which includes a home matchup against Northwestern—to feel very good about their NCAA Tournament chances.
Perhaps—just perhaps—we were too quick to bury a John Beilein team. It wouldn't be the first time.
February 13th, 2016 at 5:10 PM ^
He grabbed a few defensive rebounds and had several drives but never shot, IIRC. He looked to dish whenever he penetrated. He seemed to hold his defensively (I wasn't watching him that closely, but Purdue didn't really challenge him). Someone said they saw him limp when he left the game for the last time. Hopefully that's nothing serious.
February 13th, 2016 at 7:15 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 9:25 PM ^
He looked very rusty, hesitant, gun shy physically and shooting wise, out of sync and out of sorts, and probably 40% healthy, 40% of speed and quickness prior to this years injury. He was so far from ready to come back that I can't fathom why they tried it yet and risked more injury without any foreseeable reward.n
He did make one fantastic pass inside that wasn't converted.
February 14th, 2016 at 12:34 AM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 5:02 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 5:03 PM ^
I know he has to work himself back into shape but just having Caris out there means there is real hope that this team can make a serious run in the tournament. And defense leading the way to a win - who would have thunk it. I am excited about basketball again!
February 13th, 2016 at 5:04 PM ^
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February 13th, 2016 at 5:08 PM ^
I know Caris didn't score, but how did he look when he was in? Any sign of a limp?
February 13th, 2016 at 6:43 PM ^
February 14th, 2016 at 10:16 AM ^
He looked kinda lost at times, which is to be expected after missing that much time, but played fairly well overall. Just wasnt quite in the flow of the game, but brought the ball up the court several times and grabbed some boards amongst the trees. The announcers picked on him a bit for losing track of his guy on D a few trips in a row. He only took 1 shot I think - a jumper from the elbow on an inbound with the shot clock running low....good looking shot but didnt fall.
He didnt play at all in the 2nd half and In one of the huddles at the end you could see him on the bench rubbing his knee and it was obviously bothering him. Hopefully just sore and needs to ease back into action.
February 13th, 2016 at 5:12 PM ^
we shoot 25% from long range and Purdue 50% and we win?!?!? By outrebounding them and playing tough interior defense?!?! Great job, guys!!!! All game it seemed like if we could just make some shots, we'd pull ahead and win. Irvin and Walton came though in the clutch after struggling. If we keep playing like that, we should be able to hang tough even in our upcoming games against Iowa and Maryland.
February 13th, 2016 at 5:20 PM ^
I wanted 'pets, but this is fine.
February 13th, 2016 at 5:37 PM ^
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February 13th, 2016 at 5:38 PM ^
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February 13th, 2016 at 9:24 PM ^
Why do people always say this? -- guard play is "more important" in the NCAA tourney. Honest question.
February 13th, 2016 at 9:32 PM ^
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February 13th, 2016 at 9:41 PM ^
I usually counter with the example of Florida's back-to-back champs a few years ago, where the three most important players (all future pros) were 6'8" or above. Michigan's '89 team (Rumeal, an undersized off-guard, excepted) is another good example.
Still, it seems that a lot of upsets involve an unheralded 2-star/3-star 6'1" guy (or two) from a mid-major going 9 of 12 from three-point range and 9 of 10 from the line, etc.
February 14th, 2016 at 8:11 AM ^
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February 13th, 2016 at 5:45 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 6:03 PM ^
It's all about what you do when you get to the tournament. Just making it in would have made me happy in 2008 but we need to make it to the sweet 16.
February 13th, 2016 at 6:13 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 7:24 PM ^
From the Detroit News article on the game.
February 13th, 2016 at 8:31 PM ^
Quit it Moe, you're scarin' us! pic.twitter.com/dfLTcZPhbk
— Spike Albrecht (@SpikeAlbrecht) February 13, 2016
February 13th, 2016 at 6:36 PM ^
Every bad thing I said today..I recall every F bomb I screamed...I have NO idea how we won this game today BUT WE DID..the season was probably saved today and the NCAA tourney is getting close to a lock......
February 13th, 2016 at 7:05 PM ^
SING IT!#HAIL #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/WmCFyVEOWo
— Michigan Basketball (@umichbball) February 13, 2016
February 13th, 2016 at 7:09 PM ^
You play the games. Good team effort.
February 13th, 2016 at 7:10 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 7:17 PM ^
Huge win.
This reminded me of the Novak/Douglass teams, who weren't particularly talented but managed to outwork their opponents enough to pull off improbable wins. This was the best effort I've seen all season from an energy standpoint - let's hope it continues.
February 13th, 2016 at 7:22 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 7:58 PM ^
as unsung hero of the game. The kid flat out hustled the entire game. He was everywhere and made some very key steals and saves. He's been our best hustle player the last several games.
February 13th, 2016 at 8:07 PM ^
are likely to say that Beilein did poorly after losing his best player for most of the season along with Spike.
February 13th, 2016 at 8:50 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 9:10 PM ^
This isn't the day to complain about that stuff.
Let's focus on the fact that we've gone 9-4 in league play almost entirely without our best player.
February 13th, 2016 at 9:40 PM ^
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February 13th, 2016 at 9:20 PM ^
Great win! Go Blue!
February 13th, 2016 at 9:40 PM ^
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February 13th, 2016 at 9:58 PM ^
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February 15th, 2016 at 1:20 PM ^
February 15th, 2016 at 1:23 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 9:46 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 10:08 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 11:07 PM ^
February 13th, 2016 at 11:27 PM ^
This is why I support IP bans.
February 14th, 2016 at 9:07 AM ^
February 14th, 2016 at 3:09 PM ^
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February 14th, 2016 at 12:37 AM ^
your wish shall be granted
February 14th, 2016 at 8:48 AM ^
My friend, you may need a time out...
Everything is going to be ok.
February 13th, 2016 at 11:31 PM ^
I was not able to watch the game so I came to MGoBlog, my "go-to" source for Michigan sports news, to see a "report" about how we beat Purdue with defense and rebounding. Yeah. Very, funny guys.
Now, seriously, what happened?
February 14th, 2016 at 1:16 PM ^
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February 14th, 2016 at 12:14 AM ^
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