Michigan Succumbs To Purdue, Loses Big Ten Championship Game
In its second-straight Big Ten Championship, Michigan failed to repeat as champions and fell to Purdue, 80-72.
For just the third time all season, the Wolverines lost a basketball game. But this one stung a little more — it was a championship game, after all.
The No. 1 seed Michigan men's basketball team (31-3 overall, 19-1 Big Ten) couldn't win its second Big Ten Tournament title in a row, losing to No. 7 seed Purdue (27-8, 13-7), 80-72.
The first half was a volatile performance from both squads. They both started the game relatively hot, and the Wolverines led 13-11 within the first five minutes of play.
But out of the first media timeout, the script flipped. This time, neither team could find the bottom of the basket. At the same time, both Michigan and Purdue made just one of their next seven field goals, and the scoring stalled.
In this stretch, the Wolverines' offense had become stagnant. They weren't cutting hard off-ball, and they were settling for more isolation-heavy looks in the half court. Michigan is at its best when all five players are an active participant in the offense, and that simply wasn't the case during its cold stretch
The Wolverines remedied the situation fairly quickly, however. Junior guard Elliot Cadeau started things off with a right-wing 3-pointer, and then converted a lob to junior center Aday Mara. Mara paid it forward with a lob of his own to graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg, and freshman guard Trey McKenney linked up with a cutting sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. in the paint for another easy bucket to cap off the run.
Led by Cadeau's seven-assist first half performance, the Wolverines assisted on 10 of their 16 first-half field goals.
The Boilermakers figured it out on offense, too, and a 12-2 run near the end of the period helped the tie the game at 38-38 entering halftime.
Purdue was in control out of the break. It started the half on a 11-2 run, ambushing an again-stagnant Michigan squad. The Boilermakers were getting open looks and attacking Michigan's big men, and the Wolverines had no response. So, with 14:58 to play, Purdue opened up a 49-40 lead.
Lendeborg tried to keep Michigan attached, but the Boilermaker blitz just kept coming. Possession after possession, they wore down the Wolverines' defense and converted around the rim. And on the other end, Michigan couldn't get anything easy, so the gap continued to widen to 58-46 with less than 12 minutes remaining.
Purdue's 11-for-13 clip to start the second half didn't last forever, though, and eventually the Wolverines found a little life. A quick 5-0 run consisting of a Cadeau free throw and two Mara dunks got the deficit down to eight points and gave the Michigan faithful something to cheer about.
But the Wolverines struggled to get over the hump. They were playing better on both ends, but they were simply trading buckets which kept the deficit around eight to 10 points. They couldn't have just a stop or just a bucket, they needed both, quickly. Because as the clock ticked below three minutes to play, the Wolverines were still down by nine points at 72-63.
Michigan simply didn't have a final run in them.
The Boilermakers' early second-half ambush was too much to overcome, and the clock ran out on the game as well as Wolverines' chances at a repeat Big Ten Tournament championship.
