Purdue 87, Michigan 70 Comment Count

Ace



Dustin Johnston/UMHoops

Purdue overwhelmed.

That's the simple version. Without Caris LeVert in the lineup, Michigan took an early lead and remained in striking distance until late, but when the defense faltered the Wolverine offense couldn't keep pace against Purdue's top-ranked D.

Outside of Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, who tallied a career-high 25 points on 10/16 FG, nobody could consistently get to the rim and finish against Purdue's front line; center AJ Hammons blocked four shots and altered several others. Michigan had to rely on their perimeter play, and with reigning Big Ten DPOY Rapheal Davis shadowing Duncan Robinson, open looks weren't easy to come by—M managed to reach 40% from three but only following a few makes after the game was decided. Purdue's defense lived up to its billing.

Purdue's offensive success, meanwhile, didn't come in the way most expected. Instead of playing volleyball on the glass, they mixed post touches with a drive-and-kick approach that generated both layups and open three-pointers—the Boilermakers, not a great outside shooting squad, went 9/18 from beyond the arc. With Hammons scoring 17 on ten shots, Michigan couldn't slow the Boilermakers inside or outside the paint.

Derrick Walton and Zak Irvin couldn't make up the difference. Walton needed 12 shot equivalents to net his 12 points; he had trouble dealing with Purdue's size at the rim, and he also strugged mightily on defense. Irvin had to expend a ton of energy guarding burly power forward Caleb Swanigan, and while he did well in that regard, it left him without much juice to carry the offense—he went 2/10 for seven points with three assists and four turnovers.

There were positives to take away here, especially the play of Rahkman and the team keeping the rebounding battle even; that latter part was a huge issue in their previous losses. Mark Donnal didn't turn out to be an instant solution at center, however, even if he looked the best of M's bigs tonight, and for this team to compete with the top-tier B1G squads they need a healthy LeVert.

Comments

Waves

January 7th, 2016 at 9:21 PM ^

I grow weary of waiting for this program to become real. How long are we going to have to deal with this mediocrity thing? Oddball is ready for some positive waves man...

OysterMonkey

January 7th, 2016 at 11:06 PM ^

This years team hasn't lost to NJIT or EMU. they're not a great team, fine. But they're 12-4, and haven't lost to a bad team. Do we all wish they were better? Sure. But Beilein is a great coach, and I'm going to just assume that they get better as the year goes on, like almost every other UM Beilein team.

Stringer Bell

January 7th, 2016 at 11:39 PM ^

Their competition the past couple of weeks has been varying degrees of terribad.  Purdue is the first good team they've played since SMU and the results were the same, just as the SMU game was the same as the UConn game, just as the UConn game was the same as the Xavier game.  So no, sorry, I don't see the improvement from this team yet.

In reply to by ijohnb

atticusb

January 8th, 2016 at 9:41 AM ^

I don't disagree with this assessment... but I have to raise the old trope:  don't the other teams have to deal with injuries as well, and, if not, why is it that we seem to be so susceptible/unlucky?

ijohnb

January 8th, 2016 at 1:03 PM ^

"weird guys" because Brandon Dawson is out and Appling has a wrist thing.  It is another thing when our best player has played like 5 games in the last two years, Walton needs a walker, Irvin can't stand up right and Spike had to f-ing retire.  I think we can go ahead any play that card.

WindyCityBlue

January 8th, 2016 at 12:08 AM ^

...that's kinda what I'm getting at.  Last year, we lost to NJIT and EMU before we became an injured riddled team.  It was until after we lost our star players for the year that we started playing some good ball.  Honestly, I haven't really seen much good ball this year (yet).  To your point, we'll see how the rest of the season goes.

ak47

January 7th, 2016 at 11:30 PM ^

I think you'd be wrong.  People remember last years team fondly because they kept fighting.  That doesn't change the fact that the post injury team peaked by having close loses to good teams.  So yes it was nice to randomly beat an offensively challenged ohio state team but that team also went 3-8 over its last 11 games and outside of the random osu game our best win in the big ten was illinois. They weren't good, and finished the year 75th in kenpom.  The current team is 27th even after tonight.

That team might have been fun to watch for a lot of reasons, but they weren't actually good.

JOHNNAVARREISMYHERO

January 8th, 2016 at 3:01 AM ^

Dakich ended any hope of Donnal having another really good game.

That sequence with Dakich's ill advised drive to the hoop led to a run out and Donnal getting stuck with a foul under the hoop.

Donnal made a couple threes.  Wasn't a great game, but wasn't terrible.

Doyle provides nothing.

Wagner - love the raw ability, but early in the game, he botched an easy pick and roll by being turned around.  Just no court awareness from him as of late.  

atticusb

January 8th, 2016 at 9:44 AM ^

Re: "Doyle provides nothing", what's up with that?  He looked like he could turn into a reliable post player, but certainly doesn't seem improved so far this year.  Was he always limited, and we just didn't see it?  Did he not develop as he should/could this offseason?  Injury limited?

Mr Miggle

January 8th, 2016 at 1:23 PM ^

But he was a true freshman who arrived with little fanfare and was immediately our best big. He exceeded expectations and it was reasonable to expect more from him this year. We're not seeing improvement but he's at least reasonably consistent. He provides something, but Donnal has passed him and Wagner and Wilson flash more potential. There will still be days where we'll be relying on Doyle.

Maizen

January 7th, 2016 at 9:31 PM ^

Blown out vs every good team we've played this year. Looked like the JV vs the varsity in all of them.

Until Beilein decides he's going to recruit a legitimate big man who can rebound, block shots, finish around the basket, and run the pick n roll, Michigan is going to be a middle of the pack/bubble team every year.

So frustrating to watch teams just absolutely punk Michigan down low. This is basically the equivalent of Rich Rod's offense where we score 28 points on Wisconsin but give up 48 while they run the ball 32 plays in a row.

It's not a coincidence Beilien had his best years with McGary and a 5th year J-Mo.

Erik_in_Dayton

January 7th, 2016 at 10:03 PM ^

I'm not sure about Haas, but Hammons was the 76th player in his class per 247. And Swanigan was rated even higher. Bigger, taller guys with any skill level at all are going to have schools knocking down their doors. Coach Beilein has missed on guys, but he's not ignoring the 4 and the 5. If he had his way, Kevon Looney and Henry Ellenson would have taken the floor at those positions tonight. The staff just couldn't land them.

Maizen

January 7th, 2016 at 10:09 PM ^

Then they aren't good enough recruiters. Either get better players or better coaches, but I'm sick of watching Beilein recruit like he's at a mid major. Michigan just dumped over $100 million dollars into their basketball facilities. Somehow JB has managed to turn that and two pretty succesful NCAA runs into worse recruiting.

He got too cute thinking he could just develop everyone because he didn't want to go up against the big boys and do the type of recruiting necessary to land these good prospects. It's not a coincidence Michigan was by far the biggest offer for guys like Dawkins, MAAR, Doyle, Wilson, etc

At the end of the day it just needs to get better. I don't care how, but this crap where Michigan gets raped in the post can't keep happening. This is basketball, you need tall guys who are good.

atticusb

January 8th, 2016 at 9:49 AM ^

Ok, but *why*?  Not enough talent at the skill positions?  Not enough size inside?  Is it the wrong players, or the wrong scheme?  Is it poor execution of the scheme?  For me personally, I'm particularly interested in why the defense is poor...  There's a comment above about the last few teams being like RR's squads... sure they can score, but basically no defense to go with the offense....

True Blue Grit

January 7th, 2016 at 9:31 PM ^

I was surprised Michigan hung around for as long as they did.  We just don't match up well against big, inside teams that can also play perimeter defense.  And without LeVert, we had even less of a chance to win.  If not for MAAR, the game would have turned out worse.  Speaking of whom, I sincerely hope Beilein finds more minutes for him, even when Caris is back.  He seems to be playing very well and can really score.  

Games like this, with Michigan completely outmatched in the paint, are kind of depressing to watch.  If only Beilein could sign a couple bad-ass inside guys who can actually rebound effectively and post-up.  Sigh.

Billy Seamonster

January 7th, 2016 at 9:37 PM ^

I'm really tired of just running an "offense" that consists of passing around the 3 point line for 25 seconds and then someone penetrating. Countless times I saw the ball not even get inside the 3 point line before there were 10 seconds left on the shot clock




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Michigan Fan L…

January 8th, 2016 at 7:16 AM ^

It does seem like in every game, the first and second possessions (and sometimes the third) consist of passing the ball around the perimeter, seemingly with no purpose.  No one will take a shot, even if they're open.

This can't be a coincidence. I don't know.  Maybe Beilein has the players do this in order to figure out the defense?  Maybe he wants everyone to touch ball early on?   I don't know.  I don't get it.  And then it seems like every once in awhile they still think they have a 35-second shot clock.   

I would be interested in knowing how many shot clock violations we have so far this year.  Shoot the freakin' ball.

Goooooooo Blue!!!!

JOHNNAVARREISMYHERO

January 7th, 2016 at 9:37 PM ^

As a fan, it is getting real tiring to see our go to guy sitting on the bench in warmups all the time.