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Michigan traveled to Mackey Arena, home of the Purdue Boilermakers, on Saturday fresh off a road win at Rutgers and in the midst of a four-game winning streak.
After spending the majority of the season firmly on the bubble, the Boilermakers entered the contest desperate for a win after three straight losses and in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament.
Both teams started slow offensively, but Michigan ended the first half with a flurry of three-pointers during a 15-4 run to take a 36-21 lead into halftime.
That run proved to be the difference in the game, as the Wolverines kept Purdue at arms length for the entirety of the second half on their way to a 71-63 victory.
1. wolverines becoming road warriors?
Michigan has flipped the script on the road in the back-half of this season. After starting the year 0-5 in true road games, the Wolverines have now won four consecutive games in an opponent’s building. Michigan didn’t shoot the ball well today — they hit just 25-of-65 attempts from the floor — which has been a consistent trend on the road, but the Wolverines overcame its poor shooting on the defensive end.
2. defense flexes on williams, boilers
Trevion Williams had his way with the Wolverines in their first meeting, scoring 36 points on 16-of-28 shooting. Today, Michigan’s defense on Williams was outstanding, limiting him to 16 points on just 7-of-20 shooting. Austin Davis, in particular, defended Williams extraordinarily well. The defensive effort on Williams was the catalyst of a strong defensive performance overall for the Wolverines. Purdue shot 39 percent from the floor, and just 4-of-16 from three-point range. Michigan’s turnaround on defense this season has been something to behold, and it’s allowed them to win games like these when offense has been difficult to come by.
3. Franz Wagner massive for michigan
Franz Wagner was huge on Saturday. The Wolverines struggled to score throughout the game, but the freshman’s offense carried them through a rough shooting day. Wagner knocked down 3 three-pointers on his way to a career-high 22 points. He added 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a pair of steals in a real nice floor game for the Michigan freshman.
4. Jon Teske shows signs of life
I’ve been critical of Jon Teske for the past several weeks, as the senior center has struggled through a significant slump in Big Ten play this season. Against Purdue, however, the senior played better than he has in quite some time. His numbers weren’t eye-popping — 11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists — but he made an impact on this game defensively in the post, and was the third-leading scorer for the Wolverines. If Michigan can get their senior center playing at this level moving forward, they become even more dangerous come tournament time.
5. Wolverines are hot heading into home stretch
Five consecutive wins, and seven victories in their last eight outings. Who could have seen this coming as the Wolverines struggled through a four-game losing streak to finish January? Michigan has been incredible in February, and closes the month out with a home date with Wisconsin this coming Thursday. The Wolverines are playing their best basketball right now, and will enter March with a lot of momentum. Road trips to Ohio State and Maryland loom in the opening weeks of the new month, but with the way Michigan has looked on the road lately, those games look far more winnable now then they did just a couple weeks ago.