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Takeaways from win over Michigan

On3 imageby:Brian Neubert•01/25/25•

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Purdue's Braden Smith
Purdue's Braden Smith (Chad Krockover)

Our post-game analysis following 11th-ranked Purdue’s 91-64 win over No. 21 Michigan Friday night in Mackey Arena.

BRADEN SMITH: ELITE COMPETITOR

Purdue point guard Braden Smith dominated Michigan as both an offensive player and a defensive player. More than anything, he dominated it as a competitor.

Matt Painter has had a few players like this over the years who are capable of just raising the levels of everyone around them, and taking their team to another level. Chris Kramer comes to mind, as does Caleb Swanigan.

But Smith is well on pace to go down as the greatest competitor Painter has had, and this game was a shining example.

Smith wasn’t himself against Ohio State. If the constant travel and one-day-prep-to-one-day-prep cycle wore down anyone, it was Smith, who said after the Michigan game he needed a reset mentally as much as anything. The frustrations of the Ohio State game coupled with a chance to take some deep breaths this week clearly unleashed a monster. Seconds into the game, he was just taking the ball from Michigan, leading a defensive performance unlike any other this season for Purdue.

The Boilermakers go as Smith goes, as evidenced tonight. Purdue needed him to break out of a modest but detrimental 40-minute funk and he responded with a Big Ten Player-of-the-Year résumé game. Around that, everything else just fell into place.

FRESHMEN GETTING BETTER

It may or may not even show up in box scores, but Gicarri Harris and CJ Cox have come a long way the past few weeks, and their ground floors this season were still pretty good.

It is worth noting that the past few games Purdue has been extending first-half leads with its freshman guards, not just biding time. They have been disruptors on defense and contributed to this uncommon turnover-generation run Purdue has been on.

They’ve both just been solid. That’s been the case most of the season with some exceptions against some of the problematic matchups Purdue faced, but they’ve now been more solid than ever, at both ends of the floor.

Experience and comfort are clearly helping them, as are consistent minutes and probably the modest differences of Big Ten play, where their value may show up more in more physical, competitive games.

ANOTHER LAYER OF GREAT DEFENSE

Again, all these turnovers Purdue is forcing, Purdue is forcing them. There’s a difference between a team forcing turnovers or just benefiting from them. Purdue is forcing them.

Its razor-sharp help and no-middle principles have been well-executed and forced opponents into crowds and mistakes and made non-passers make decisions, with mixed results.

This has been a rousing success, shockingly so.

Michigan was a different deal, though. This was all about Purdue’s perimeter pressure taking away the Wolverines’ ability to even use their outstanding big men when it mattered. This game was decided 10 minutes in, it was Michigan’s turnovers that decided it and it was Purdue’s pressure on the ball that set the whiole thing in motion.

Purdue has not been a high-pressure defense in ages; tonight it was, and because of it, it did to its opponent what opponents have been trying to do to the Boilermakers for many years now.

This was about pressure, but also activity. The purpose Purdue played with on defense was palpable.

Even when Michigan beat the pressure and got the ball to the rim, it still had to make a bunch of tough reverse layups to score.

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