On Monday afternoon, the Associated Press came out with the Week 15 AP Poll. The Michigan Wolverines, coming off wins over Indiana and Oregon, moved up four spots in the AP Poll to No. 20.

Despite being tied for second place in the Big Ten standings, Michigan was the fourth-highest-ranked Big Ten team, trailing behind Purdue (No. 7), Michigan State (No. 11) and Wisconsin (No. 16).

The Wolverines will have a great opportunity to surge ahead both in next week's AP Poll and in the Big Ten standings with Tuesday night's home game against Purdue. On Monday morning, Michigan head coach Dusty May previewed the biggest matchup yet this season against the seventh-ranked Boilermakers.

"We're excited to be in position for this to be an extremely big game, with Purdue coming into Crisler [Tuesday], May said. "Challenge our fans to bring the energy, enthusiasm, and create and continue to build on home court environment that we continue to create."

Purdue stomped Michigan at Mackey Arena during the first matchup in January. The Wolverines fell behind 13-2 early during the Jan. 24 meeting, and May's squad was never able to catch up.

Braden Smith, Purdue's star point guard, scored 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting in the 27-point blowout.

When asked if Michigan sees Tuesday night's contest as a revenge game, May said Michigan just needs to play much better basketball than it did against the Boilermakers the first time.

"We don't use the word 'Revenge,'" May said. "But we have to play much better basketball. We need to make some adjustments schematically, but more importantly, our mindset. That was a tough night. They deserved to win how they did, and I thought we deserved the result that we got that night."

Michigan was held to a season-low 64 points in that loss, and the Wolverines shot just 37 percent from the floor and 20.7 percent from 3-point range.

Since that game, though, the Wolverines have rattled off four straight wins and find themselves right in the thick of the Big Ten Championship race. Michigan, 10-2 in the conference, will hold at least a share of the Big Ten lead with a win over Purdue on Tuesday.

"We're excited to see our growth, our improvement from then until now. It's part of the process. That night, a lot didn't go right for us. A lot went wrong. Purdue caused most of it. It's going to be a tough game, but we're excited to go at it and compete."

---

Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards

Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer

Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @Jerry_Diorio

Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify

Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube

Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and BlueSky