After moving into a tie for first place with their win against Illinois earlier this week, The No. 3 Purdue Boilermakers suffered a demoralizing loss to the Michigan Wolverines, 82-58, in Ann Arbor on Thursday night.
The loss margin is Purdue’s worst of the season. Purdue’s previous three losses to Rutgers, Wisconsin and Indiana came by a combined ten points.
Michigan (13-9, 7-5 in conference) took the lead for good when Hunter Dickinson knocked down a three-pointer with more than seven minutes to play in the first half, 27-24. The Boilermakers (21-4, 10-4) trailed by as much as 29 in the second half.
The Boilers’ struggled in the three-point area–both in shooting and defending it.. The Wolverines made 12-for-21 from beyond the arch, nine in the second half, while Purdue converted only 4-of-18.
“We’ve had breakdowns defensively, and our offense is what has saved us,” said coach Matt Painter after the game. “So now if you don’t play well defensively and don’t play well offensively, you’re in trouble.”
In Purdue’s last game against Michigan on Feb. 5, the Boilers did not shoot much better from beyond the arc (5-18), but dominated inside by scoring 44 points in the paint, which offset the poor outside shooting. In Ann Arbor, Purdue was not as successful being outscored, 36-30, in the paint.
Purdue also struggled with turnovers (14), the most since Jan. 27 against Northwestern.
“(Michigan) executed better than us (and) they were tougher than us,” said Painter. “We have to have more of a sense of urgency across the board.”
Jaden Ivey finished with 18 points for Purdue, but the sophomore also turned the ball over five times. Trevion Williams scored 12 off the bench while Zach Edey had ten.
Purdue will face off against Maryland at home on Sunday. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
