Some of the nation’s best college basketball teams are those that don’t carry bad offensive possessions to the defensive end. That’s an area in which Michigan has excelled over the last several years, and it was the case again in Saturday’s 71-63 win at Purdue.
U-M had one really good offensive stretch against the Boilermakers, finishing the first half with a flourish in expanding a 21-17 lead to 36-21 at the break. The Wolverines made only 38.5 percent of their shots overall and six of 25 triples, but a trio of three-pointers came in the run that made the difference.
“We just had too many defensive breakdowns there, and they made us pay for them,” Painter said. “They made a couple threes in that stretch … we just got the ball at the rim whether post play or a drive, and we just didn’t convert. We had to be able to convert and get our low post game established, get to the free throw line more. We simply had to make some shots, and obviously in that stretch we had too many breakdowns defensively.”
U-M had several great looks early in the second half, too, and a chance to put the game out of reach.
“I thought the start of the second half they just missed, to be honest with you,” Painter said. “Michigan missed — it wasn’t us making them miss. They didn’t play that good. Michigan can play a lot better than that. [Eli] Brooks wasn’t out there for them for half the game ‘cause he got hit in the nose.
“it was one of those games that was there for us, but we just had to play better, and we didn’t … Penn State came in here and hit 14 threes. These guys didn’t. These guys didn’t come in here and hit 15 threes and beat us; they hit six threes. But they did a great job in areas of ball control that really gave themselves a chance to play, and they played really good at the end of the first half.”
They also did a great job protecting the ball, turning it over only three times. And for as many shots as they missed, they still finished with 17 assists, six coming from senior point guard Zavier Simpson, four from senior center Jon Teske and three from sophomore guard David DeJulius.
Painter credited Michigan, but also lamented that his team — one of the best in the conference at forcing turnovers — couldn’t get it done Saturday.
“I would look at it as both,” he said. “We turned them over at their place. When you’re looking at it from your perspective, from my perspective it’s that we’re not active enough with our hands. If you look at it from their perspective, they took care of the basketball.
“They have one of the best point guards in terms of ball control in the country. He is a fabulous player, a very intelligent player, understands the game. I thought they did a good job of keeping the ball in his hands. But the other guys make good decisions. I thought [Franz] Wagner had a fabulous game. Overall, they had better decision making than we did.”
NOTES
• Brooks left early in the second half with an apparent nose injury after bumping heads with Purdue’s Nojel Eastern. He’s expected to be okay.
“I’ll tell you one thing … he still looks handsome,” Howard quipped. “I have no idea. All I saw was a lot of blood on the floor … had me concerned. But that kid is a warrior. He’s tough. He wanted to go back in the game, but I said, ‘no. We’re going to hold you out right here. Your health is more important than anything.’”
• DeJulius came up “big time” again, Wagner noted, the second game in a row in which he’s provided very good minutes on both ends of the floor. He notched six points and three assists and defended well.
“It’s very hard to come in and be ready. He’s doing a great job of always being ready when he comes off the bench, giving everyone else that spark,” Wagner said. “He’s a great defender, very aggressive on offense, which I think is his biggest advantage when he’s out there. You’r going to have to guard him. I think that’s very important for us.”
“He’s a worker, man,” junior forward Isaiah Livers said. “That man will never give up, ever … you can always count on him being ready.”
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