Purdue vs. Michigan Breakdown: 3 Ways the Boilers Can Beat the Wolverines
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CHICAGO — Purdue will play one more game at the United Center. After defeating Northwestern, Nebraska and UCLA, the Boilermakers have advanced to the Championship Game of the Big Ten Tournament, where they'll play top-seeded Michigan.
The two teams played once during the regular season, a 91-80 victory for Michigan at Mackey Arena on Feb. 17. That victory essentially sealed a regular season conference title for the Wolverines, something the Boilermakers had aspired to win this year.
Can Purdue get revenge on Michigan on Sunday in Chicago? Here are just a few keys for the Boilers if they hope to take down the Wolverines.
Get Aday Mara into foul trouble again
Purdue hasn't been great at drawing fouls this season, but because of Michigan's aggressive and physical style of defense, the Boilermakers found some success attacking Aday Mara. The 7-foot-3 center fouled out of the game after playing 18 minutes. He did make quite the impact in that time, though, scoring 10 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking two shots.
Mara is obviously at his best around the rim, but he's still capable of defending around the perimeter and altering shots from long range. That's where he makes his biggest impact. But he's also a solid offensive player, especially with his size in the post.
If Purdue can attack him and get the big man into foul trouble, it will impact Michigan's size and shot-blocking ability, providing the Boilers with better matchups offensively.
"Be quick, but don't hurry"
The old John Wooden quote applies to Sunday's game for Purdue. In the first contest against Michigan, the Boilermakers were guilty of rushing shots when there was any opening. It resulted in ill-advised three-pointers, missed layups an a few poor decisions.
Against a team with Michigan's length, Purdue can't continually pass the ball around to try to find a great shot. It's probably not going to get many of those looks. What the Boilermakers need to do, though, is pull the trigger on those good looks without rushing the attempt.
When Purdue does get those looks, all of Purdue's shooters — Fletcher Loyer, C.J. Cox, Gicarri Harris, Braden Smith, Jack Benter and Omer Mayer — must be ready to fire. If those shots don't fall, it will at least give Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff opportunities to get offensive rebounds.
Prevent Michigan from an extended run
One thing Michigan has done extremely well this season is capitalizing when other teams go through scoring droughts. There is usually a four-minute lull at some point in the game when the Wolverines put together a big run and shut the lights out on their opponent.
Purdue can't allow that to happen. The Boilers need to be locked in on both ends of the court. If shots aren't falling for a period of time, they have to get stops. Obviously, that's easier said than done against a team that carries a 31-2 record in Sunday's Championship Game.
If Purdue can minimize the damage and prevent Michigan from going on a 10-0 run (or something much larger), it should be able to hang around with the Wolverines. But if the Boilers dig themselves a big hole, it's going to be awfully difficult to climb out.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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