Michigan junior forward Isaiah Livers missed Wednesday’s win at Rutgers with what’s been reported as a high ankle sprain. Livers missed nine-plus other games with a groin injury and has had a rough year on that front.

Head coach Juwan Howard wouldn’t speculate on whether Livers would play Saturday at Purdue.

“I haven’t had a chance to speak with Alex yet. Alex is our head trainer,” he said. “So, after this press conference, I’ll go downstairs and talk to him and see so we can plan on how we’re going to move forward in practice and the game tomorrow.

“We didn’t really have a game yesterday. We had more of a walkthrough/player development day, but he was present.”

He will travel with the team as he has all year.

Purdue took Michigan to double overtime in Ann Arbor and is a difficult matchup at home. The Boilermakers have lost three games in West Lafayette, but they’ve also blown out several teams. Purdue is now playing for its NCAA Tournament life, sitting at 7-9 in the conference.

“We know tomorrow’s matchup is going to be very challenging,” Howard said. “You’re playing them at Lafayette. They’ve had a lot of success there … tough place to play.

“Looking at each and every player on the roster, a lot of them play a lot better at home. We expect it’s going to be a juiced up crowd. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Howard wouldn’t go into specifics on how the defense has improved over the last several weeks (none of the last 10 opponents have scored more than 68 points), but it’s started with badgering post players a bit more rather than trying to guard them one on one.

“I do not want to jinx us because we have improved, but Tre is an exceptional player, very skilled on the low block,” Howard said. “For his size, how smart he is by reading angles, making difficult shots over taller bigs … our big isn’t the only one he’s had good games against. He’s one of the best players in the Big Ten.

“We’re playing well defensively, doing a really good job. Practice habits as well as defensive technique and philosophy has improved. I expect tomorrow hopefully we’ll have some good improvement, stay consistent with our defensive play.”

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