Michigan vs. Purdue Tactical Breakdown: Three Ways the Wolverines Can Beat the Boilermakers

Michigan survived against Wisconsin due to a game winning 3-pointer from Yaxel Lendeborg in the last second of the game. That whole game was very back and forth with each team having big leads at different points of the game. The Wolverines held on though and advance to take on the Purdue Boilermakers who beat the UCLA Bruins in the quarterfinals by a score of _ to _. Michigan and Purdue will square off for the second time this year, with the Wolverines winning game one at Mackey Arena, 91-80. Let's dive into the three keys for Michigan to win the Big Ten Tournament Championship against Purdue below.

Contain Braden Smith

The first time these two teams played, Michigan did an excellent job of containing Braden Smith. He scored 20 points, but was only 4/13 shooting from the field. It wasn't his typical masterful performance, and a lot of that is because Michigan's length seem to bother him multiple times in that game. If Michigan can do the same thing to him again the second time around, they've got to be feeling good about their chances to win this game.

Establish their post players

The other thing Michigan did really well the last time they played was to establish their big guys down low. Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr, and Yaxel Lendeborg combined for 35 points and 24 rebounds as they were able to control the glass and paint on both sides of the court. They did allow Trey Kaufman-Ren for Purdue to score 27 points, but nobody else from Purdue was able to get much going in the paint. Getting Michigan's big guys going down low was big, as it allowed the rest of the offense to be nicely spaced out. The Wolverine guards had a lot of room to shoot, and they ended up making 13 three pointers against Purdue last time out. If they can get their big guys established down low again, it should open up the rest of the offense on the outside.

Shoot it better from 3-point range

So far in Chicago for the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan has not been able to shoot the ball well from distance. They shot 29% from 3 against Ohio State, and then 32% from 3 against Wisconsin. They've shown they can still win games without shooting it well from distance, but when they hit those outside shots at a higher clip, it certainly unlocks their offense. They will likely need a better offensive game than they've had so far in Chicago during this tournament if they want to beat this Purdue team once again.

So far, Michigan has been just skating by in these first two games of the Big Ten Tournament. They'll need to play better if they want to beat this Purdue team who will be looking for revenge. If Michigan can contain Braden Smith, establish their big guys down low, and shoot the ball better from 3-point range, the Wolverines will have a great chance at winning the Big Ten Tournament Championship.