Michigan hangs around, upset bid comes up short in 75-70 loss

Jett Howard was out for Michigan on Thursday night as the Wolverines welcomed the top-ranked Purdue Boilermakers. The absence of the freshman was ultimately the Wolverines' demise as they struggled to keep up with Zach Edey and the Purdue offense.

Michigan kept things interesting for the majority of the game, but playing from behind for more than 25 minutes ultimately caught up to Juwan Howard's short-handed squad. Here are three takeaways from the 75-70 loss.

Although it hasn't looked like it for most of the season, Michigan is a talented team. It has more talent than most of its Big Ten opponents, yet all it has to show for the first nine games of the Big Ten season is a 5-4 record.

The Wolverines have competed with some of the Big Ten's best, and they've struggled to pull away from some of the league's worst. There is virtually no consistency from Howard's squad, and it showed yet again tonight.

There's always going to be an added level of intensity when the No. 1 team in the nation visits your arena, but Michigan proved tonight that it is capable of not only competing with, but also beating some of the best teams in the country.

With 11 games to go in the regular season, Michigan needs to focus on playing consistent basketball regardless of the opponent. If the Wolverines play like they did on Thursday night, they should have no issue beating teams consistently and putting together a winning streak.

The most interesting storyline heading into this game was the battle between Hunter Dickinson and Zach Edey. Both big men are among the best players in the country, and the duel did not disappoint on Thursday.

The first half was full of back and forth punches from the big men, and it was like watching a chess match unfold on the floor. Each big seemed to get the best of the other on the offensive end of the floor, and both finished the first half in double-figures.

The second-half battle wasn't nearly as entertaining, as the guards stole the show, but the first half gave plenty of interesting possessions.

One problem that really plagued Michigan in this game was Tarris Reed's foul trouble. Reed picked up two early fouls, and Juwan Howard opted to leave the big man in the game. Then, just a few minutes later, Reed tallied his third foul with a technical after a dunk.

Because of Reed's foul trouble Dickinson was forced to play more minutes than coach Howard probably would have hoped. The junior center finished with 21 points and seven rebounds in the loss, while Reed scored two points in 13 minutes.

At halftime, Dickinson had 14 points and no other Wolverine had more than five points. As dominant as the 7-footer can be, Michigan needed more help from its other starters if it wanted to pull off the upset.

Although the Wolverines ultimately came up short, it wasn't due to a lack of effort. Bufkin, who scored five points in the first half, added 11 in the second as he tried to will his team to victory.

The 6-foot-4 sophomore finished the game with 16 points on 7-15 shooting in 36 minutes.

If Jett Howard's injury sidelines him for an extended period of time, Bufkin will have to establish himself as the team's second scoring option, and he did a solid job of playing that role on Thursday.

Michigan will now head east to take on Penn State in State College on Sunday. The game will begin at noon and will air on Big Ten Network.

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