North Carolina reaps benefit of Michigan upset over Purdue

The Big Ten race got even more interesting when Michigan defeated No. 3 Purdue on Thursday. But another team was celebrating the win as it tries to make the NCAA tournament.

North Carolina went to bed Thursday without a Quadrant 1 victory this season. Friday, Michigan moved into the top 30 of the NET rankings — meaning the Tar Heels’ 72-51 win over the Wolverines is now a Q1 win.

A Quadrant 1 victory has a couple definitions, according to the NCAA, and they all go back to the opposing team’s NET ranking. It can be a home game against a No. 1-30 team in the NET, a neutral site game against No. 1-50 or an away game against No. 1-75. A Quadrant 2 game is against No. 31-75 at home, No. 51-100 on a neutral site and No. 76-135 on the road.

North Carolina was 0-7 in Quadrant 1 games before Michigan moved up to No. 30. In fact, all seven of the Tar Heels’ losses this season have come against Q1 teams. They’re 16-0 against Q2, Q3 and Q4 teams.

Michigan shook up the Big Ten race on Thursday when it rolled past Purdue 82-56 at the Crisler Center. It was the second time the two teams faced off in five days; the Boilermakers defeated the Wolverines 82-76 on Feb. 5.

Juwan Howard explains adjustments made for Michigan’s second Purdue matchup

Five days after losing to Purdue on the road, Michigan defeated the Boilermakers at the Crisler Center to shake things up in the Big Ten. That’s quite a turnaround, and it means Juwan Howard and his staff made some good adjustments.

Just don’t expect him to tell you what exactly he did.

Michigan ran circles around Purdue en route to an 82-56 victory that ended with the Wolverines student section storming the court. All five Michigan starters scored in double figures while the Boilermakers shot 44% from the field — down from its average 50.5%.

Given the quick turnaround, it’s reasonable to see why Howard was asked about what adjustments he made. He, naturally, didn’t share much, but added his group could see Purdue again in Indianapolis at next month’s conference tournament.

“Really? You want me to tell you?” Howard joked with reporters. I’m not going to tell you, man.

“I’ll tell you this. The adjustments that we made, they were really good adjustments that helped to give us an edge and give us an opportunity to win the game. It’s good that some of the adjustments we made worked. Because we might see them again [at the] Big Ten Tournament. You just never know.”