ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Purdue's six-game winning streak and share of the Big Ten lead both went down hard on Thursday night, in the third-ranked Boilermakers' 82-58 loss at Michigan.
Our post-game analysis and Wrap Video.
ON ASKING FOR TROUBLE
So often this season, Purdue's ability to simply outscore people has been both a blessing and a curse.
Would be the Boilermakers have been in a better place defensively to open Big Ten play in December had scoring not come so easily — for lack of a better, more accurate term — in November? No way of knowing.
Purdue's struggled often this season from a defensive perspective, with Thursday night's loss in Ann Arbor being one of the lowest points, and it's been apparent, though not nearly as apparent as it would have been if the Boilermakers weren't so potent offensively.
Stunning as Thursday night's outcome was — not necessarily Michigan winning, but the margin — it was the culmination of some issues that Purdue's almost always been able to just slap a fresh coat on three-pointers on.
Keep in mind, as ugly as Thursday night was, Purdue's now played 25 games and won all but four of them. You saw tonight how much of a credit to the Boilermakers' ability to score that is.
Michigan seemed to have tweaked some things offensively from the game five days ago, but nevertheless Purdue didn't look well prepared on Thursday night. Better said, it didn't look terribly focused. There's no way that closing out on Hunter Dickinson — no matter how he got looks — wasn't bolded on the Boilermakers' scouting report, yet repeatedly, Purdue either lost him as Michigan's indirect or was a step slow getting out to him, i.e. not anticipating.
Purdue wasn't nearly as good as it needed to be defensively on Thursday, and this was one of the rare occasions this season that it couldn't get away with it.
