Takeaways From Michigan Basketball’s Big Ten Championship Game Against Purdue

The top-seeded Michigan Wolverines basketball team fell 80-72 to the seventh-seeded Purdue Boilermakers in the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game on Sunday afternoon (March 15).

Yaxel Lendeborg led the Michigan offense, finishing with a team-best 20 points in the loss.

Earlier this season, Michigan won the first matchup between the two squads, securing a 91-80 victory on Feb. 17

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Michigan’s Offense Goes as Elliot Cadeau Goes

In the opening half, Elliot Cadeau put on a masterclass performance. The starting point guard finished the opening half with an incredible eight assists in 18 minutes of action, for reference on how impressive that is, the junior averages 5.4 per game on the season. He also had seven points, including a shot as time expired to tie the game at 38 apiece.

It is clear there is a difference in the flow of the Wolverines' offense when Cadeau is on the court vs. when he is on the bench. The ball moves better when he is out there, especially in their half court offense.

The Wolverines Still Haven’t Figured Out How to Fill the Void of L.J. Cason

Backup point guard L.J. Cason went down late in the season, suffering a torn ACL. Now with five full games without Cason, it is clear the Wolverines haven’t entirely figured out how to play without him.

As mentioned earlier, the UofM offense looks significantly better with Cadeau on the court, especially because the Wolverines are missing Cason.

It seems Michigan will play Cadeau more in his absence, but that will not always work, especially if he gets in foul trouble. Trey McKenney takes a large portion of ball-handling responsibilities when Cadeau sits, but is more of a shooting guard skill set. It really is becoming a point guard by committee without Cadeau, with multiple guys commanding the offense.

Heading into the tournament, either someone needs to step up as a secondary ball handler or the Wolverines need to find a way to generate consistent offense with Cadeau on the bench. It is clear the problem won’t fully be solved, but that doesn’t necessarily limit the team's upside.

Pick and Roll Torched the Maize and Blue

In the opening 10 minutes of the second half, the Boilermakers got out to a 13-point lead over the Wolverines. Purdue did that by essentially running one play, the pick-and-roll. The two-man action with Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn picked the Wolverines apart. The Boilermakers started the second half an impressive 11-for-13 (84.6%) from the floor.

It was a mix of the Boilermakers getting hot and Michigan being unable to guard the pick-and-roll. In particular, Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara were getting taken advantage of on the defensive end. Johnson Jr. finished the game with the worst plus/minus on the team (-16).