Michigan basketball drops 12th game in last 16 tries in blowout loss at Purdue
The Michigan Wolverines fell to 7-12 (2-6 Big Ten) on the season in a blowout 99-67 loss to No. 2 Purdue (18-2, 7-2 B1G) on Tuesday night in West Lafayette. The defeat is the team’s second in a row and 12th in the last 16 games after starting the season 3-0.
The 32-point loss is Michigan’s worst in Big Ten play since a 72-41 defeat at Wisconsin in 2003.
Michigan was without point guard Dug McDaniel on Tuesday night, serving the second of a six-game road suspension for academics. He was replaced in the starting lineup by graduate Jaelin Llewellyn, who had 16 points on the night.
Here’s the recap of Tuesday night’s defeat on the road.
First half
Purdue’s Fletcher Loyer got the scoring started with a three-pointer at the 18:40 mark, answered at the other end by a layup from Michigan center Tarris Reed. Purdue followed that up with a 5-0 run, ended by a jumper from Llewellyn to trim the deficit to 8-4 in favor of the Boilermakers at the 17:09 mark.
It would be the closest Michigan got the rest of the game with Purdue rattling off seven unanswered points to take a 15-4 lead at the 14:59 mark. Will Tschetter ended that run with a three-pointer, answered by a Braden Smith three-pointer. Jace Howard hit his first three of the year off the bench to bring the score to 18-10 Purdue with 13:14 left in the half. Howard’s run was answered by another scoring run, this time the 8-0 variety, to help Purdue take a 26-10 lead with 7:47 remaining.
Michigan showed brief signs of life after a 5.5-minute scoring run with Llewellyn hitting a pair of threes and scoring on a layup at the 4:05 mark, trimming Purdue’s lead down to 31-21. The Boilermakers hit a three at the 3:44 mark, followed by a pair of Howard free throws for U-M. Purdue’s biggest flurry of the half followed with a 12-0 run over the last few minutes to extend its lead to 46-23 with 56 seconds remaining. Reed hit a jumper with 32 seconds left before Loyer ended the half as he began it, hitting a three and sending Purdue into the locker room up 49-25 after 20 minutes of play.
Second half
Terrance Williams II got the scoring started in the second half, cutting Purdue’s lead to 49-27 on a jump shot at 19:17. A 5-0 run from Purdue star Zach Edey stretch the lead to a game-high 27 points at 54-27 with 17:57 remaining. The Wolverines were able to get the deficit down to 21 points after an Olivier Nkamhoua layup to trim things to 56-35 at 15:53 to go. a deficit that would stick until things sat at 60-39 with 15:01 on the clock.
Purdue extended the lead out to 68-41 with 13:25 to play in the game before Michigan clayed back to down 22 at 70-48 with 11:40 to go. A 9-0 Boilermaker run helped the home squad push its lead up to 79-48 with 9:09 left until the game’s expiration. At a Michigan timeout at 6:56, Purdue led 82-52. Five more points were scored by the Boilermakers, pushing the lead to a game-high 35 points at 87-52 with a little over five minutes to go.
With the game out of hand, Juwan Howard began to empty his bench while Matt Painter did the same as both teams trod water for the last few minutes. A bright spot for Michigan late was freshman guard George Washington III, who had 10 points in the final 4:58 to play. It was not enough to cut into Purdue’s lead, though, ultimately finishing the game up 99-67 when the buzzer sounded.
Michigan at Purdue final box score
