In a 75-73 thriller, Michigan defeated Purdue at Crisler Center on Tuesday night. The Boilermakers led for nearly 35 minutes, but Michigan gutted out the victory to surge ahead of Purdue in the Big Ten standings.
In front of a sellout crowd, Michigan-Purdue started out strikingly similar to how the first matchup between the two teams went. At Mackey Arena on Jan. 24, the Boilermakers jumped ahead by double digits almost immediately, and they never looked back.
On Tuesday night at Crisler Center, a similar storyline played out, although to a smaller degree. Purdue established an eight-point lead in the first four minutes of the game.
However, contrary to what played out at Purdue last month, the Wolverines showed some fight.
In the first meeting, Michigan fell behind by double digits early, and before long it was a 44-15 lead for the Boilermakers, giving the Wolverines essentially no chance of winning.
But on Tuesday night, after Michigan fell behind by eight early on, the Wolverines fought hard and didn't allow the Purdue lead to exceed 11 points in the first half. Michigan cut the 37-26 Purdue lead to a two-point halftime deficit, finishing the first half on a 9-0 run.
Surprisingly, Roddy Gayle Jr. led the way in scoring for the Wolverines in the first half with 12 points. Gayle Jr. got to the free throw line six times and connected on four of those attempts. Tre Donaldson and Danny Wolf each added nine and seven points, respectively, in the first half, as well.
Purdue's dynamic backcourt of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer combined for 24 first-half points, and all 37 of the Boilermakers' points in the first 20 minutes were scored by either Smith, Loyer, C.J. Cox or Trey Kaufman-Renn.
At the beginning of the second half, Purdue extended its lead yet again. With 14:44 to play in the game, the Boilermakers re-established a double-digit lead, holding a 48-38 advantage over the Wolverines.
But once again, in what seemed like a carbon copy of the first half, Michigan fought back. The Wolverines cut the deficit to three points with 8:11 to play in the game, and a few minutes later, a pair of Vlad Goldin free throws gave Michigan a 59-57 lead with 5:33 to play.
The teams traded buckets throughout the last few minutes of the game, but clutch shots from Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin gave Michigan a six-point lead with 39 seconds remaining.
Purdue star point guard Braden Smith drilled two 3-pointers near the end of the game to keep Purdue in it, but his last-second game-winning attempt at the buzzer came up short, and Michigan pulled off the stunning victory.
In the end, Wolf led the way in scoring with 15 points, but efforts from Gayle Jr. (14 points), Donaldson (12 points) and Goldin (12 points) should not go unnoticed.
With the win, the Wolverines improve to 19-5 overall on the season and 11-2 in the Big Ten. As of the time of this writing, the Wolverines are alone in first place in the Big Ten standings.
Next up is Ohio State on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Columbus.
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