Purdue 87, Michigan 70
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.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:59 PM ^
If he were part of this team, I guarantee you the board would be all over him for not being that good.
MAAR is easily as good as him.
Edwards hardly did anything at all tonight, and that was against a team that had to defend desperately in the paint. I am not upset about passing on him at all.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:10 PM ^
January 7th, 2016 at 11:18 PM ^
Edwards would be getting *killed* if he played for this team.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:24 PM ^
Well we're giving significant minutes to walk ons for the second year in a row, so Edwards would provide some nice depth at the very least. He'd also have been our most productive recruit of the 2014 class if he gave us what he's given Purdue so far.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:33 PM ^
Did that look like a player that would really make much of a difference?
I don't really care what his numbers are only three games into the Big Ten season.
Besides, it's pretty fucking easy to rack up assists when you have those three beasts to pass to. It's the lack of that sort of critical analysis that drives me crazy.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:38 PM ^
I watched as much as I could stomach. And considering that we have guys like Chatman and Doyle that can't get off the bench, Wilson who has become a 7 foot 3 point shooter, and Dawkins who has moved down the rotation, yeah Edwards is looking like a pretty enticing prospect right now. So maybe lower your shields a bit bud, no need to insult other people's intelligence on here.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:57 PM ^
am questioning your rationality.
Edwards looks very average. This is solidly grass is greener stuff.
Also, Wilson is 6'8"-6'9".
January 8th, 2016 at 11:07 AM ^
Wow. I've tried to ignore you, but I failed miserably. In the words of Pete Carroll, "what is your problem?" I don't know if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday or if you were just upset because of the Michigan loss, but you seem to be in the midst of an extended conniption fit.
Cussing, ranting, and raving is not going get people to agree with you. We are all Michigan fans and want the best for our team. We give our opinions about the team and sometimes we're critical, but it's because we want the best for our team.
Now, I could understand you cussing out Michigan State trolls if they came on the site and criticized the Wolverines. I would understand it, but I still wouldn't agree with your methods. Stomping your feet, throwing punches, cussing, and raising your voice will not bring me around to your way of thinking. These methods have the opposite effect.
On the other hand, if you're suffering from "keyboard tourettes syndrome" and just can't help yourself, then I deeply apologize for the above comments. Thank you, and as always....
Goooooooooo Blue!!!!
January 8th, 2016 at 11:14 AM ^
The fuck are you talking about?
January 7th, 2016 at 9:46 PM ^
The reality is that Walton and Irvin simply don't lead this team every night. They do it at times, but it can't come and go so easily.
The go to guys can't be absent so often.
Levert is unreliable at this point as well.
I really hope we find a spot for Spike next year if he is healthy.
I know everyone has a soft side for Dakich, but the kid simply cannot be on the court for real minutes and he always ends up doing something that leads to the other teams huge run.
January 7th, 2016 at 9:57 PM ^
January 7th, 2016 at 10:02 PM ^
Walton is a HUGE step down from Burke and Morris. Like not even close to their level. He's essentially a spot up shooter, nothing more. Irvin's shot is broken, though I do think he's good running the PnR offense. Levert is great but just can't seem to stay healthy. Unfortunately our "Big 3" is really a "Big 1" and that 1 is frequently injured.
January 8th, 2016 at 7:30 AM ^
I like D. Walton but for some reason in the last 2 games he has been intent on taking the ball to the hole. Penn State blocked at least 2 of his shots early in the game and their guys are not 7-footers. So then we play Purdue AKA The Land of the Giants, and the first and second thing I see is Walton driving to the basket and the ball being knocked into the stands.
Derrick Walton is a good player. I agree he is not at Burke's level. But I like him. He just needs to understand that sometimes it's better to drive the ball and kick it out to the 3-point shooters (especially when there are 7-footers waiting in the lane), than it is try to play the high-trajectory game.
Gooooooo Blue!!!!
January 7th, 2016 at 9:50 PM ^
January 7th, 2016 at 10:09 PM ^
I feel like I can just copy and paste previous posts from old games. I didn't even care about the bigs this game. Purdoo-doos were a lot better and we knew that going in and they showed it so who cares. Donnal did okay and that is all we can expect. We are not going to be able to compete with any team who has decent bigs unless were hitting 50% from three, lets just take that as fact at this point. Our bigs are smalls and they are not good. One of them (Donnal) is okay and that is it. Period. Also, DJ took five 3s, wtf? I have yet to see one thing from him I like and I've watched him for a year and a half. He should cut his hair normal.
The one thing that really pisses me off is the production of Irvin and Walton. I have said this numerous times. They are way too inconsistent. Walton barely averages 3 assists a game, in a system he has started in for three years in a row. He also cannot get to the basket in any way, too weak or small or something. Irvin gets a little more lee-way because, yes, he had back surgery, but at this point is that still an excuse? If he hits 15 points one game, he can do it again the next and he doesn't. I loved both of these guys as freshman but they are BIG let downs right now unless their games improve in the next few weeks. Obviously having Caris would have made this game totally different but that is not the point. Caris is golden. I see us just barely making the tournament and then losing to some stupid team.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:12 PM ^
Watching Doyle and Irvin play makes me less confident about Beilein the great teacher. Neither has amounted to much other than a MAC level player.
January 8th, 2016 at 9:15 AM ^
I think it's more on the players than Beilein. Irvin's poor mechanics on his jump shot will always make him unreliable. Doyle has stone hands and tires easily. Donnell panics with the ball in his hands. They are giving exactly what they physically have to offer. Beilein can't fix that. Ya, he recruited them, but the 5 stars aren't exactily lining up to come here.
Not being negative, but the NC run with a team full of 3 stars won't be duplicated during Johnny B's tenure. That was a special team that got smoking hot at the right time in the season.
Lastly, perspective. I'm sure Rutgers, Northwestern, Penn State & Illinois would love to trade FB and BB programs any day.
January 8th, 2016 at 9:18 AM ^
True, but then you look at someone like MAAR or even Caris and see that Beilein is a great teacher. MAAR wasn't even expected to get that many minutes coming in as a Freshman and he racked up 25 points against the best defense in the country. Every team/coach is going to have players that don't turn out. Doyle can't catch, that's something as a post you just have to develop through years of playing and unfortunately he hasn't. As far as Irvin goes, his offensive production has been down (probably due to the surgery) but he has been one of if not our best defender this year.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:14 PM ^
is a trooper. No reason not to give him more PT.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:15 PM ^
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January 7th, 2016 at 11:14 PM ^
January 7th, 2016 at 11:42 PM ^
It's really weird. We lost on the road to a top 15 team without our best player. This isn't a game we were supposed to win, but some people are acting like it's the end of the world.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:51 PM ^
January 8th, 2016 at 12:33 AM ^
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January 7th, 2016 at 10:17 PM ^
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January 7th, 2016 at 10:24 PM ^
January 7th, 2016 at 10:37 PM ^
He's a shooting guard in a point guard's body. After 2.5 years it is amazing how little he has mastered the offense. The offense has run through Nik, Caris, and Zak the past 3 years and I think a lot of that is due to Walton's inability to run it.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:39 PM ^
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January 7th, 2016 at 11:09 PM ^
notable difference
January 8th, 2016 at 1:23 AM ^
Sweet sixteen.
January 8th, 2016 at 1:50 AM ^
I wasn't sure about that, but somehow thought he got one of those E'Twaun Moore teams to the Elite 8.
He did not.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:45 PM ^
Purdue had 26 assists on 30 made FGs. Must be some sort of record.
Also, that's some shitty defense to give up assists on over 86% of the opponents' FGs.
January 8th, 2016 at 8:31 AM ^
Can anyone tell me why we didn't start pressing/trapping until the game was basically out of reach? Instead of trying to triple team their bigs in the paint so we can get posterized and put in early foul trouble, why not press the hell out of them from the start so the ball never even makes it into the paint?! Purdue's one glaring weakness was sloppy ballhandling. They were averaging 13 turnovers a game heading into last night. What did we do? Forced only 8! turnovers. I just don't get it.
January 8th, 2016 at 9:40 AM ^
Pressing is tiring. You need good backcourt depth to pull it off. With LeVert and Albrecht out, coming out with fullcourt pressure from the get-go (which isn't really our game anyway) might have just caused us to wear down sooner in the game than we did.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:11 AM ^
...when we are huge underdogs already (especially given Levert being out) don't we want to try the higher variance play? What's the point of lasting the entire game just to get blown out anyway? Couldn't exerting more energy on defense by pressing possibly lead to easier transition baskets and thus save energy on offense? We probably wasted just as much energy running around 8 feet off the 3 point line unable to get an open look, dribbling aimlessly along the baseline, getting annihilated by 7 footers when we attempted to drive, etc.
January 8th, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^
Well again, this team really isn't built to press up and down the court for more than brief intervals. Asking guys like Robinson and Dakich to do that for 20 minutes is an awful lot. It'd be like putting terrible cornerbacks in press coverage. Yes, it's theoretically high-variance, but you can guess how it would work out.
But more generally, when you're the underdog, you want to shorten the game and just try to hang around until the end when you can steal the win. Going to full-court pressure will mean lengthening the game, due to the increased number of short (fastbreak) possessions. That favors the superior team in general, and especially the team with better depth. That's Roy Williams's philosophy at UNC: I've got better talent than you, so I'm going to lengthen the game as much as possible to increase my chances.
January 8th, 2016 at 3:41 PM ^
As soon as we started pressing we immediately forced a turnover and duncan robinson converted it into a quick transition layup. We then abandoned it very quickly and their lead grew.
https://twitter.com/NotMattPainter/status/685279969090646016
http://www.maizenbrew.com/2016/1/8/10735182/2015-2016-basketball-five-t… (see #4)
Teams without 5-star talent have pressed effectively (hello VCU?) so I don't think there is any rule about who can use it or in what situations. Again, I don't understand why we wouldn't at least try that strategy when up against a turnover prone-team who absolutely crushes us in the paint (ball gets stolen prior to entering the paint = we don't get dunked on). Similarly, if we score fast in transition we don't get bogged down in a half-court set against the #1 defense in the country! THIS WAS THE EXACT WAY IOWA CAME BACK TO BEAT THEM THE PREVIOUS GAME.
January 8th, 2016 at 5:00 PM ^
VCU specifically was recruited to play a 40-minutes-of-hell style. Iowa also traps and presses a lot more than we do.
Our roster isn't built to play that kind of style. We can bust out a press for short intervals, but we don't have the lineup to do that for an entire game (especially with LeVert and Albrecht out). TYPING IN ALL CAPS doesn't change that.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:06 PM ^
I swear, it looks like he's injured again or isn't mentally back to believing in his body.
This is not the same player I saw before the injury.
He's struggling with anything lateral again, which is pretty bizarre.
This still looks like a physical thing - he was a much better defender freshman year and his ability to change direction on offense looked completely different than it does now.
Is he still hurt?
People seem to forget just how good he was and how much athleticism he played with until the injuries started and he started favoring one leg or the other.
January 8th, 2016 at 12:11 AM ^
If he is indeed hurt again, then the praise of Jon Sanderson needs to end and his training techniques need to be reviewed.
The injuries are getting absurd.
January 8th, 2016 at 1:55 AM ^
I'm just wondering if at this point we find out on Senior Day that Walton has gutted it out through a few years of some nasty chronic injury and that he won't play post-college.
Because I'm not suggesting he's hurt again - I'm suggesting he's still hobbled by the initial injury and that it never got better.
All speculation on my part, just found his inability to move laterally or change directions really striking.
January 8th, 2016 at 3:10 AM ^
Possibly but its pretty ridiculous that all these guys can't somehow get or stay healthy.
His movement looked fine just a few games ago.
With a program that does everything by the book, we sure can't seem to catch a break with injuries and managed to get punished for developing guys no one else even wanted/recruited Big Ten wise (aside from Penn State and Burke) in 2 years.
This is why we have to keep recruiting and be aggressive with the roster. Need an influx of talent and healthy bodies.
January 8th, 2016 at 1:28 PM ^
He's not playing like we have seen him play in the past. His has zero lift on his jumper and has been short on many shots the last several games.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:10 PM ^
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January 7th, 2016 at 11:58 PM ^
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January 8th, 2016 at 12:02 AM ^
January 8th, 2016 at 12:03 AM ^
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January 8th, 2016 at 12:19 AM ^
January 8th, 2016 at 12:26 AM ^
I'm guessing we won't have to worry about that again
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