Michigan dominates another top-25 team, takes care of business against Purdue

Coming off a strong performance against North Carolina Thursday, the Michigan Wolverines continued its hot start to the 2018-19 season.

The Wolverines didn’t have many issues en route to a 76-57 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers Saturday at Crisler Center. There were a few lapses of offensive struggles, but it was an overall strong performance on both sides of the ball.

Here’s how it went down.

1st Half

Michigan started HOT. After a 13-4 run to begin the game, Purdue hit a 3-pointer out of the called timeout by head coach Matt Painter. Michigan senior forward Charles Matthews promptly hit a 3-pointer after a Purdue triple to give the Wolverines a 16-7 lead.

Purdue cut the deficit to 21-16, but then Michigan went on a 15-0 run thanks to 3-pointers by Jordan Poole and Matthews, a dunk on a fast break by freshman Ignas Brazdeikis and an alley-oop slam from Matthews to center Jon Teske. Michigan took a commanding 31-16 lead with 10:23 in the first half.

Michigan’s offense then began to struggle, only scoring eight points over a seven-minute stretch. But then sophomore Eli Brooks hit a 3-pointer, immediately followed by a 3-pointer by Brazdeikis, then followed with another Teske dunk. Michigan’s offense was suddenly in business again right before halftime.

Halftime: Michigan 44, Purdue 28.

Michigan’s defense held Purdue to 11-of-31 from the field and just 4-of-12 from 3’s. Veteran Carsen Edwards led in scoring with 10.

For Michigan, Poole had 13 at the half, including three 3-pointers. Matthews had all nine of his first-half points from beyond the arc. Brazdeikis had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

2nd Half

The second half could not have started with any more fire power.

Michigan and Purdue were trading buckets for a few minutes, with Simpson kicking off the scoring in the second half with a layup. Edwards then hit a 3-pointer, followed by a Teske 3-pointer. Purdue forward Matt Haarms got in on the three-point fun with one of his own.

Poole then took over, with five straight points for the Wolverines. He was up to 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting at the first media timeout of the second half.

From the 14:29 mark to the 5:16 mark, Michigan did not make a field goal...but was still up 67-50 at that time after a Teske 3-pointer. The defense only gave up 10 points during that poor offensive stretch, and that is exactly what will keep the Wolverines in games this year.

After that, the foul/free throw game commenced, and Michigan was able to hit most of its free throws on the day (11-of-13).

Final: Michigan 76, Purdue 57.

Michigan will take on Northwestern in Evanston Tuesday night.