Dusty May: Michigan 'dreaming big' ahead of Purdue game, stretch run
ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Wolverines will play their biggest game of the season on Tuesday night when the Purdue Boilermakers visit Crisler Center. The teams are battling for the Big Ten regular season title, and Tuesday’s outcome could tip the scales in either direction.
It is a rematch of a Jan. 24 setback for the Wolverines, who went into Purdue’s Mackey Arena and lost 91-64. Since then, Michigan has been on a four-game win streak and wants to add to it with a signature victory against the Boilermakers.
”We don’t use the word revenge, but we have to play much better basketball,” May said on Monday morning. “We need to make some adjustments schematically, but more importantly our mindset. That was a tough night. They deserved to win how they did and I thought we deserved the result we got that night.
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“But we’re excited to see our growth, our improvement from then until now. It’s part of the process. That night, a lot didn’t go right for us. A lot went wrong. But Purdue caused most of it and so it’s going to be a tough game, but we’re we’re excited to go out and compete.”
Every night in the Big Ten has the potential to be rough, but the next two weeks might be the most intense of the season to this point. Purdue comes to town on Tuesday, then the Wolverines head down to Columbus for a showdown with Ohio State on Feb. 16. The stretch concludes with a Feb. 21 meeting with the Michigan State Spartans – right at the top of the league and in the mix for the conference crown – on Feb. 21 in Ann Arbor.
To summarize, we are going to know a lot about where Michigan stands in the Big Ten pecking order very quickly.
“It’s going to be fun,” May said. “When you look at our schedule and how many games do we have left… we put ourselves in a great position. That’s where you want to be in February, playing meaningful games. It should be fun. I’s daunting when you look up and it’s Purdue then at Ohio State and then back home against Michigan State. If you want to run a night’s sleep, think about that before bed.
“It’s part of the challenge. When you’re in the Big Ten, you’re in the SEC, you’re in one of these leagues, it’s not changing. You turn the page from one game to the next, and you’ve got a tough opponent waiting on you every single week. But yeah, these mean a little bit more because of the rivalries.”
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Michigan will take things a game at a time, and no game is bigger currently than the one that comes next.
”This is a very big game on a lot of fronts,” May said. “Number one, to show that we can compete with one of the best teams in the country. Yes, we want a championship, but can’t win the championship tomorrow. We’ve got to continue to improve and continue to stay the course.
“Coach [John] Beilein actually gave me a quote a while back about dreaming big but focusing small. I think that’s well said that we’re dreaming big. We want to be in the battle with these teams at this time of year. Even Ohio State is playing great basketball. I’ve watched them. They’re like us. They’re in every single game until the end. They’ve won some. They’ve lost some. They’ve had some, some good fortune. They’ve had some bad, bad fortune.
“We’re certainly focusing on tweaks and nuances, how we can improve how to stay fresh, how to stay healthy this time of year, but we’re definitely dreaming big as well.”
Tuesday night’s game between Michigan and Purdue tips off at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast via the Peacock streaming platform.
