They lost by 27 a few weeks ago in West Lafayette, Indiana. Somehow, it was worse than that.
Michigan basketball didn’t look like it belonged on the court against Purdue that day, or against the upper tier of the Big Ten
They got bullied, leaving the Wolverines’ top-four spot in the standings to appear no more than a ruse.
They were also humbled and, frankly, they might have needed it.
They weren’t afraid to say that Tuesday night at Crisler Center after the No. 17 Wolverines beat No. 7 Purdue, 75-73, to grab first place in the Big Ten.
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THE GAME:Michigan basketball beats “gold standard” Purdue 75-73, takes over first place in Big Ten
Signature win?
Sure, and a few of head coach Dusty May’s players were happy to say it.
“Top three for sure,” said Will Tschetter, who’s been here a minute and seen a few things.
May, though, didn’t want to hear it. Not yet. And he won’t want to hear it for a while. About the best he could do was say that his team still doesn’t have to rely on anyone else in the conference to win it.
“We control our own destiny,” he said.
So, there is that.
There is also this: His squad bullied the conference bullies, and he was most happy about that, about the defense and rebounding and competitive spirit, about how many players who made plays or found their way from mini-slumps, about the way his team kept falling behind and kept fighting back.
Then held on.
That was despite a couple of late 3-pointers from Purdue’s terrific point guard, Braden Smith, despite some late turnovers and missed free throws and despite all the missed open looks early, generated off fine movement and precision.
“The easiest thing to do,” said May, “is to drop your head and get into your feelings. We didn’t.”
For the record, U-M has won five in a row. Also, for the record, they are learning to win close games, which means they’re learning to get stops.
“Stops are the key,” said Rubin Jones, whose putback dunk with 39 seconds left sealed it.
Jones is critical to the improving defense. A pest, May called him. He can shoot, too, even if he hasn’t shown it. And if you want to imagine where this team might be in a few weeks, or what it might be capable of when it gets to the NCAA tournament, Jones is a good place to start.
But then so is Roddy Gayle Jr., who’d scuffled the last few games. He kept U-M in the game in the first half attacking the paint.
And so is Vlad Goldin, who was scuffling for two-thirds of the game Tuesday night and got an earful from May after an ill-advised fadeaway on the baseline.
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“We’ve known each other a long time,” said May, who coached Goldin at his previous stop, Florida Atlantic. “There’s times when Vlad doesn’t like me, and (times when) I don’t like him.”
He smiled. Winning will lead to that. Watching your big man respond to some sideline motivation will lead to that, too.
Goldin grabbed a critical rebound and blocked a critical shot and played with ferocity in the final minutes. So did Danny Wolf, whose driving layup jumpstarted the final push.
“We’ve known what we’re capable of since the summer,” said Wolf, the 7-foot point-center who transferred in from Yale over the summer.
They’ve known they were capable of nights like Tuesday. They just needed a day like late January at Mackey to remind themselves what it would take.
If there are moments that change a season or, in the Wolverines’ case, push a good season to a potentially great one, that humbling against the Boilermakers is a good place to start. And Tuesday’s win over Purdue was a good place to see what started.
Not that U-M started well.
Oh, that was on the grease board, so to speak — Avoid getting behind early — after they were down 20 midway through the first half at Mackey. And when the Boilermakers and their splendid backcourt kept draining shots at Crisler, it got a bit uneasy.
It was 7-0 in a flash. Unlike the first meeting, U-M took a breath and started coming. Free throws. Dives into the paint. A 3-pointer.
Slowly, they came back, and then came back again after falling behind by 10. Again and again, they made the play to stay close and occasionally even grab a lead, until they grabbed the final lead for good.
Rebuilds are a bit quicker in the era of the transfer portal and NIL money, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy. Nor should they be taken for granted. It takes a while to stitch together a squad with so many new players.
What May has done — and is doing — is one of the best stories in college basketball. And while he won’t let himself talk about the significance of beating Purdue, he’ll allow that his team is getting better, and that it can get a good bit better still.
“This is exciting to be playing in meaningful games in mid-February,” he said.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on X @shawnwindsor.
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