Among all that let Purdue down at Michigan, defense tops list
Analysis ($): 3-2-1 | Wrap Video | Stat Blast
PDF: Purdue-Michigan statistics
In another marquee early season game — this one the Big Ten opener — Purdue faced another quick measuring stick.
But in a 76-57 loss at seventh-ranked Michigan, the Boilermakers found quickly their defense didn’t measure up.
The Wolverines came in at 7-0, having already dressed down Villanova and North Carolina this season, by virtue of a defense that belies Michigan’s long-held rep for intricate and confounding offense.
But it was that offense for which Purdue had no answers Saturday in Ann Arbor.
And it was immediate, as Michigan made six of its first seven shots, looking as sharp on offense as the Boilermakers looked dull on defense.
Michigan made threes, and when Purdue switched screens five ways — it normally doesn’t switch at center, but did against Michigan last season — the Wolverines put the Boilermakers in screen-and-roll and hit big man Jon Teske for dunks.
“When you can’t keep your guy in front of you, and they’re just getting to the rim every single time, it’s hard to keep them from getting good shots, which they did,” center Matt Haarms said, “and then they started knocking down their bad shots because we gave them a lot of easy looks early.”
Looking very different from the team that seemed to show hints of a traditional Purdue defense-and-toughness identity in Charleston, Purdue didn’t put up much resistance vs. shots, passes or, especially, penetration as conference play began. Matt Painter said his team wasn’t “clean” in its defensive switches, putting the Boilermakers a step behind.
“It was just containing the dribble,” senior Ryan Cline said. “There were times we couldn’t keep the ball in front of us and it allowed them to get open shots and open opportunities.”
The consistency issue that’s plagued this Purdue team struck again. Not in the same one-good-half/one-bad-half manner — Purdue itself wouldn’t tab either half Saturday “good” — but in the sense that when it started getting stops Saturday its offense fell off, failing to capitalize.
That being said, when Michigan was stopped in the first half, it was because it was missing layups, hardly a credit to the opposition.
But when it was stopped in the second — and Purdue did hold the Wolverines almost nine minutes without a field goal — the visitors couldn’t do much with it.
After Aaron Wheeler’s three cut a Michigan lead that had peaked at 20 down to 12 with 7:55 left, Purdue could get no closer.
Jon Teske — perhaps the heir apparent to Mo Wagner as Michigan’s foremost thorn in Purdue’s side — knocked down a three, triggering an 8-0 run that restored blowout status.
Michigan shot only 47 percent for the game.
Only.
ˆThat number was weighted down considerably by the second half rut, which Purdue deserves some credit for on an otherwise difficult day defensively.
Outside of that, Purdue shot OK from three — Cline scored 15 on 6-of-8 shooting, 3-of-5 from three — and competed on the glass, while committing only nine turnovers against a team that’s been forcing a good deal of them.
But five of those turnovers came off Carsen Edwards, bringing the Boilermaker leading scorer’s total to 21 in losses to Virginia Tech, Florida State and now Michigan. His 19 points came on 7-of-21 shooting.
Evan Boudreaux, a solid third scorer this season thus far, was held to just 1-of-8 shooting.
This Purdue loss, though, came down to no one play, or no one player.
“This is not what this Purdue team should be about,” Haarms said. “I think we got out-toughed, some guys weren’t ready to play, including … We just need to be better, a lot better.”
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