Danny Wolf recaps Michigan win over Purdue: 'Guys knew what we were playing for'
ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Wolverines grabbed their biggest win to date of the Dusty May era with a 75-73 nailbiter over No. 7 Purdue in Ann Arbor on Tuesday night. The victory sent the 20th-ranked squad to 19-5 on the season and 11-2 in the Big Ten, alone in first place at the time the clocks hit zero.
Junior big man Danny Wolf led the Wolverines in scoring with 15 points on the night, which came a few weeks after a 4-point dud in a 91-64 loss to Purdue on the road.
Michigan had to come back from multiple double-digit deficits in the win, which was an inverse of some of the games it has had of late. They tend to build a big lead, then then it slip. Tonight, it was all about the fight and clawing back.
“We’ve kind of been on the flip side of that the past few games and I think that we just were able to weather a storm,” Wolf told the media after the game “Shout out to the fans. I think the energy and the building really, really helped us. So proud of my teammates and coaches.
”It was a big win. We hadn’t done this yet, but we beat a top-10 team. Not many teams do that. We’ve been through a lot over this last month, from the Minnesota game to the Purdue game, to having to win these close games. We just stuck together, stuck with it, and it’s just a step in the right direction.”
Games have gotten more difficult as the schedule moves into its late stages, but Michigan feels like it is getting better as a team and still has its best basketball ahead of it.
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”We know what we’re capable of,” Wolf said. “We’ve known this since the summer. We’re sitting at the top in first place in the Big Ten. We lost by almost 30 at their place, and we know what we’re capable of, and I still don’t think we’re playing as well as we can, and that’s the exciting thing.
”We went into their place and got our butts kicked, to say the least, and it was kind of a wake-up call. And I don’t want to say this was a revenge game because it only means so much. But I thought we played with a great edge, and guys knew what we were playing for. And it was not to prove anyone wrong, it was to prove ourselves how good we can be.”
Jan. 24 feels like forever ago, but the difference between how Michigan looked at Purdue and how it looked on Tuesday night was tangible growth and major step in the right direction from a toughness and physicality standpoint.
The best part is that they know they are capable of more, and still have bigger goals.
”Coach says it all the time that no one outside of our locker room knows what we’re capable of and knows how good we really are,” Wolf said. “The exciting part is we’re nowhere near where we can be and this is just one step in the right direction because we have really big goals. It was a very important win because we don’t have another shot at Purdue until potentially the Big Ten tournament.
“We want to hang a banner and this was just one step.”
