Michigan basketball (24-5, 11-5), ranked #7 in the country, will take their act to West Lafayette on Wednesday night for their final road game of the year at Purdue. Tip is set for 7 pm eastern and the game will be aired on the Big Ten Network.
Update: After Ohio State went into Indiana last night and knocked them off, Michigan will now be playing on Senior Day with a chance to grab a share of the Big Ten title.
To be clear, Michigan fans one and all will be thrilled that the 2012-13 road slate is coming to a close. The Wolverines are 17-0 at home this year and have only lost at Crisler once in the last two seasons combined (against Purdue). John Beilein’s team is 3-0 on neutral courts with wins over Pitt, Kansas State, and West Virginia – a resume that bodes well for the upcoming Big Ten and NCAA tourneys. The road, however, has been unkind.
The Wolverines are just 4-5 in true away games and are fresh off the disaster at Penn State a week ago, a loss that is quickly becoming a thing of the past after a riveting win over the Spartans on Sunday.
Trey Burke
Purdue (14-15, 7-9) hasn’t had a typical Boilermaker season as they are in a bit of a roster rebuilding mode. Despite that, they did go into the Kohl Center and smack the Badgers in the mouth this past weekend with a 13-point win in the most hostile of venues. The ability is there for Matt Painter’s team, they just haven’t been able to display it with regularity.
For Michigan, it’s all about the ‘D’. The offense has held up well all year even with the shocking 0-12 effort from three point range on Sunday. But anytime you have Trey Burke taking most of the dribbles things are going to be just fine when it comes to scoring the basketball. Michigan should get a lift from beyond the arc as it appears Nik Stauskas is ready to go after taking a jarring elbow in the State game that required 12 stitches above his right eye.
The Wolverines had all kinds of trouble stopping other teams in the middle of their Big Ten schedule, particularly when Jordan Morgan was out and/or hobbling with his ankle injury. Three games ago against Illinois saw Michigan finally put forth a dominating defensive performance thanks to an active and healthy Morgan along with rising defender Caris LeVert.
And then Penn State happened. Michigan led by 15 with under 11 minutes to go and then suddenly couldn’t stop the meager Nittany Lions attack, eventually losing the game in embarrassing fashion. Fortunately, the young roster was able to get off the mat and play a strong defensive game against the Spartans. The interior presence of Morgan once again led the charge and then two late steals by Burke (who had five steals in all) sealed the deal.
Michigan can even their road record at 5-5 with a win and put themselves in great shape for a 1st round bye in the Big Ten Tourney. Back on January 24th in Ann Arbor the Wolverines took out Purdue by a final count of 68-53. When a team has aspirations of going deep into March/April, that Thursday bye becomes a coveted a thing.
Much like in professional sports where you just try to make the playoffs and get hot while you’re there, in NCAA hoops the idea is to get a high seed and find your groove when it matters most. Michigan was in rhythm most of the year until the horrors of a regular Big Ten season finally caught up with them. With the Purdue game and the season finale at home v. Indiana on Sunday, Burke and company have a chance to get on that kind of a roll.
One thing I’ve noticed while covering this team all season long is that occasionally they lack the swagger necessary to do truly great things. An easy example is the Fab Five. They did not care one bit what others thought of them. Internally, they knew there were great and went out and played that way, especially on the big stage of the NCAA tourney. Might Burke’s heroics at the end of the MSU game give Michigan some of that same juice?
Prediction:
So far this season Rob is 25-4 predicting the outcome of Michigan games and I am 24-5. We both feel that Michigan has enough in the tank to pull out a tough road win against Purdue.
Rob: Michigan 68-59
Joe: Michigan 72-66
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About Joe White
EVERYONE,
MASSIVE APOLOGIES TO MY INCOMPETENCE TO A SEVERE OVERSIGHT!!!! TODAY’S GAME VS. MICHIGAN IS NOT SENIOR NIGHT FOR PURDUE, AS I POSTED BELOW!!!! THAT IS ACTUALLY FOR THE MINNESOTA GAME (PURDUE HAS TWO OVERALL GAMES LEFT, WHICH HAPPEN TO BE HOME GAMES: 1ST MICHIGAN, THEN MINNESOTA [THE LATTER IS THE SENIOR NIGHT GAME FOR PURDUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]). IT HAS BEEN A ROUGH SEMESTER AND SPRING BREAK HASN’T EXACTLY EASED ALL OF THAT YET (I AM STILL DOING DECENT OVERALL ACADEMICALLY, BUT THE GRIND HAS BEEN UNUSUALLY BRUTAL FOR ME). AGAIN, SORRY ABOUT THAT!!!!
VERY SINCERELY & BEST REGARDS,
WOLVERINE
OOPS!!!!
MEANT TO SAY AND SPECIFY, THAT WAS FOR ROAD GAMES AGAINST PURDUE (WHEN WE ARE RANKED AND PURDUE IS UNRANKED).
–WOLVERINE
^Joe White^,
EXCELLENT ARTICLE AND ANALYSIS AS USUAL!!!! MORE THINGS, IN TERMS OF INCENTIVES/MOTIVATIONS/DETERMINATIONS/INSPIRATIONS/PERSPIRATIONS, AS IT RELATES TO THIS GAME:
*ALTHOUGH, MICHIGAN CAN LONGER HAVE A BIGTEN CONFERENCE WINNING ROAD RECORD (THANKS TO THE PENN STATE LOSS), IT CAN STILL HAVE A NON-LOSING RECORD IN BIGTEN CONFERENCE PLAY. WHAT I MEAN BY THAT, IS THAT WITH A WIN AGAINST PURDUE, MICHIGAN CAN BE 9-9, .500 ON THE ROAD IN THE BIGTEN IN THE PAST TWO SEASONS, INCLUDE THIS CURRENT 2012-13 SEASON (5-4 IN THE 2011-12 SEASON, AND 4-5 [POTENTIALLY] IN THE 2012-13 SEASON)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE HAVEN’T HAD A COMBINED CONFERENCE ROAD RECORD LIKE THAT IN 2 CONSECUTIVE SEASONS, IN QUITE AWHILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*1: THE NUMBER OF TEAMS THAT HAVE WON THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT IN 4 GAMES-4 DAYS. THAT WAS IOWA IN 2001, WHO ACCOMPLISHED THIS FEAT AS A #6 SEED. IN OTHER WORDS, THERE IS A REASON WHY THIS HAS ONLY HAPPENED ONCE SO FAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS WHY THE 1ST ROUND BYE IS ULTRA-IMPORTANT (AND WHY WE NEED TO WIN OUT [WE COULD GET A 1ST ROUND BYE, DEPENDING ON WHAT HAPPENS WITH OTHER TEAMS, IF WE GO 1-1, .500, BUT THAT IS PLAYING WITH FIRE IN MY HUMBLE OPINION)
13: THIS WAS THE MARGIN THAT PURDUE TRAILED, ON THE ROAD AGAINST WISCONSIN (PURDUE WON THIS GAME). IT IS ALSO THE BIGGEST LEAD THAT PURDUE HAD IN THIS GAME AGAINST WISCONSIN.
*WE HAVE A WINNING RECORD, ALL-TIME, AGAINST PURDUE, WHEN WE ARE RANKED AND WHEN THEY ARE UNRANKED (DON’T REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, BUT I’LL FIND IT AND LET YOU KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*NEWTON’S 3RD LAW . . . FOR EVERY ACTION, THERE IS AN EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION (IN THIS CASE, ****^^^^SENIOR-NIGHT STYLE!!!!^^^^****) ;.)) I AM GLAD THAT YOU MENTIONED THE LOSS TO PURDUE AT HOME LAST SEASON (IT WAS MICHIGAN’S SENIOR-NIGHT), BECAUSE IT JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE PURDUE’S SENIOR NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
****^^^^NEED I SAY MORE???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!^^^^****
*BACK-TO-BACK 13-5 RECORDS IN THE 18-GAME SEASON ERA OF THE BIG TEN CONFERENCE. BY WINNING OUT (WHICH OBVIOUSLY WOULD INCLUDE BEATING PURDUE, HERE) MICHIGAN WOULD HAVE BACK-TO-BACK SEASONS OF 13-5 RECORDS FOR THE 1ST TIME, SINCE 1992-93 AND THE 1993-94 SEASONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*POSSIBILITY OF A SHARE OF THE BIGTEN CHAMPIONSHIP. ADMITTEDLY THIS IS OUT OF OUR HANDS IN THE SENSE THAT WE NEED HELP HERE (I.E. OHIO STATE BEATING INDIANA @INDIANA TONIGHT). BUT IF THAT OCCURS AND WE WIN OUT, THEN WE GET A SHARE OF THE BIGTEN CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*HAVING A WINNING RECORD IN THE “LAST 10 GAMES” (OF THE REGULAR SEASON, EXCLUDING THE B.T.T. AND POSTSEASON). RIGHT NOW, WE ARE 4-4, .500!!!!!! ****^^^^NEED I SAY MORE??????!!!!!!!!!!!!^^^^****
–WOLVERINE