Purdue 76, Michigan 59
AJ Hammons celebrates Purdue's victory.
Midway through the second half, CBS cut to a shot of John Beilein giving Moe Wagner an on-the-fly lesson on post defense. Wagner had just committed a shooting foul on Purdue center Isaac Haas and was subsequently pulled for Ricky Doyle.
On Purdue's ensuing possession, Haas bullied Doyle down low and drew another shooting foul. Any lessons Beilein gave out this afternoon came far too late to salvage Michigan's chances of reaching the Big Ten final and locking up an at-large bid.
Instead, it'll be a stressful Selection Sunday after the Boilermakers dominated the Wolverines in the paint. Michigan played all four of their centers; none provided resistance to the fearsome duo of Haas and AJ Hammons. Hammons finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks; Haas added 11 points in only nine minutes. Michigan's big men combined for ten points—seven by Mark Donnal, who played only 15 minutes due to foul trouble—and four boards.
Purdue opened each half with a big run—8-0 to start the game, 9-0 to open the second half—and whenever Michigan threatened to close the gap, the Boilermakers beat them back with dominant post play; Purdue scored 44 points in the paint to Michigan's 28. Despite being overwhelmed on the interior, the Wolverines frustratingly declined to double-team Purdue's big men until less than four minutes remained; when they finally did so on Hammons, the double was weak, and a few quick passes around the perimeter resulted in a Rapheal Davis layup.
Derrick Walton (14 points, 5 assists, 4 steals) and Muhammad-Ali Adbur-Rahkman (15 points, 7/11 FG) did their best to overcome Purdue's considerable advantage inside. They got little help. Zak Irvin and Duncan Robinson shot 2/12 combined from three-point range; the Wolverines were 6/25 as a team. The Boilermakers made two fewer three-pointers—on 13 fewer attempts.
Now Michigan, which entered today as the last at-large in the field on the Bracket Matrix, will nervously await their postseason fate.
This is one of our big problems. We don’t have a true 5 and that gets us killed in the paint. I feel bad when Donnal, Doyle, or Wagner are fighting at the 5.
March 12th, 2016 at 10:06 PM ^
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March 12th, 2016 at 11:40 PM ^
I hope you're right about his size. A reasonable big might save us from another year of wayward Beilein hot seat chatter.
March 13th, 2016 at 12:24 AM ^
UM held its own at the 4/5 vs Purdue at home, MD in both games, and others when you probably didn't think so. This team lost more games due to the 2/3 positions than the 4/5. Funny enough, we were down our NBA draft pick in that group.
(And early in the year, Irvin's recovery from injury caused us to not have the advantage at the 4 that we planned, which led to some of the blowouts)
I'll have a pair of the rose colored glasses you're wearing. Whatever his philosophy is, eyes don't lie - our players are unathletic especially in the paint - and I come from an era when Michigan was the dominant program in the state, so just getting to the dance now while losing to MSU (at home) and OSU doesn't cut it especially in year 9. Love Beilein, swell guy, great coach, brought the program from horrible to mediocre with a couple flashes in the pan, but fact remains, his inability to leverage our deep runs the last few years into better talent is a massive disappointment.
you are an idiot. writing players off after two years. look at izzo rosters. his players don't do shit until they are JRs and SRs.
March 12th, 2016 at 11:47 PM ^
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March 13th, 2016 at 12:26 AM ^
name the last izzo team that has been good w/o Jr and Sr players leading the team. answer: none. even this year. 3 starters. when is the last time JB had 3 senior starters? answer: never. we finallly have a pipline of experieced players going forward. if 10-8 is the worst it gets, i will live with it.
but we have every player coming back next year. to think none will improve is just moronic. look at valentine, forbes and costello two years ago. not that good. look at them now. players improve, idiots!!!
March 13th, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^
I think most people think that there will be SOME improvement - that really should be expected from any coach. So then we should expect to see improvement from other teams in the big ten as well. The issue is can we improve at a better pace than everyone else?
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Those guys don't want to come here because they know back-to-the-basket posts like Hammonds and Haas are an afterthought in Beilein's system. Why come to Michigan and be a limited role player when you can go to Purdue and be a star?
You can't tell me that Purdue is getting these kind of guys and we aren't just because they are being bought off by some kind of Purdue bagman.
March 14th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^
my classmate's mother-in-law makes $56 hourly on the computer . She has been out of work for 6 months but last month her check was $17581 just working on the computer for a few hours. view website....
===1=> http://www.workprospects.com
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