Boilers Drop Road Game at Michigan 73-75

Smith’s 24 can’t overcome foul trouble & officials to grab important road B1G game

The Purdue Boilermakers had a tough loss on the road at Michigan, dropping their third game of the B1G season 75-73 to the Wolverines. The Boilers did enough to win in a tough environment in what was a battle for first place in the B1G, but couldn’t overcome a night where the bench provided zero support and the officials whistled the Boilers for 23 fouls to Michigan’s 13. That foul disparity led to the Wolverines shooting 18-26 to the Boilers’ 6-8.

Purdue opened the game similarly to how the first matchup started by forcing four early turnovers in before the under sixteen minute media timeout. It was also a game in which Smith started out hot hitting a short corner fadeaway jumper and a transition three for a quick five points. It was also a game in which Caleb Furst used his physicality early on to establish the tone early on, but it wouldn’t last.

The Boilers had done a good job in their first matchup to prevent a Michigan team that like to get out and run and force them into a halfcourt game. The Boilers struggled with that as they allowed Michigan to consistently get quickly into offense and the defense was often on their heels. It was Michigan’s switch on defense that caused the Boilers some issues as they often went into a full court pressure that dropped into a 2-3 in the first half.

What hurt the Boilers most in the first half was a night where TKR and Furst both struggled with foul trouble. The big men both had two fouls in the first half that led to both of them being on the bench when Michigan was able to take an eleven point deficit and go on an 11-3 run in the final 4:09 of the half. In fact, Purdue’s last points of the first half were a Loyer three pointer with 3:46 remaining. It was a missed opportunity to take full control of a road game and it would come back to haunt the Boilers.

Leading 37-35, the Boilers were able to again seize control early in the second half as they started off with an 11-3 run over the first 5:14 to take a 48-38 lead. It was at that point that the officials, who had been uneven at best in the first half, seemed to start a descent into as poorly an officiated half Purdue fans have seen. To provide insight into this, Purdue was whistled for 23 total fouls that led to Michigan going 18-26 while the Wolverines were called for just 13 total fouls and Purdue went 6-8 from the free throw line. In fact, the Wolverines were not whistled for just one foul the final 7:30 of the game.

The most egregious calls of the night likely helped turn the game and showed that the officials were not interested in a equally called game. With 10:17 remaining in the second half, Danny Wolf drove the lane and was met by Kaufman-Renn. Vladislav Goldin turned and pushed TKR in the back with both hands, sending him into Wolf and ultimately to the ground. That is, by definition, a non-basketball play and should have been upgraded to a flagrant 1.

The other was just an absurd call that saw Furst get called for his fifth foul. With 2:01 remaining and Michigan ahead 69-68, Goldin grabbed a defensive rebound off a missed Furst dunk then fell to the floor. The official nearest the play signals for a travel while an official further from the play overrules him and whistles Furst for a foul. That would lead to a pair of Goldin free throws that would put Michigan up 70-67.

Beyond the officiating that saw Purdue inexplicably stuck on six fouls and prevent them from getting into the bonus in both halves, the Boilermaker bench failed to provide any offensive support and were often out of position and slow on defense. Myles Colvin and Cam Heide again struggled to connect from deep combining to go 0-3 from the field and Heide going 0-2 from behind the arc. That means Heide is now shooting just 15.8% from behind the arc during B1G games, becoming a player who opposing defenses will allow to shoot so they can freely double team TKR or Smith.

The big three, however, largely played well enough to win. TRK, although shouldered again with foul trouble, was able to go 11-19 from the field for 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists. He struggled with turnovers with 5, something that had seemingly gotten fixed over the last several weeks. Loyer chipped in 15 points on 5-11 shooting from the field but took just four shots in the second half while struggling to defend the dribble drive on defense.

Braden Smith was again doing Braden Smith things as he very nearly willed the Boilers to a victory. He was strong early and strong late but seemed to struggle a bit with simply taking over the game when it was necessary, seemingly defaulting to teammates when it was better for Purdue for him to shoot more often. He would finish the game with 24 points on 10-19 from the floor (4-9 3pt), 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.

With just 21 seconds remaining, Smith his a deep three to cut the lead to 70-73 and again connected on another with 8 seconds left. That made the game 75-73 Michigan with Danny Wolf on the foul line, He would miss both and Smith’s off balance three pointer was short. It was a game where the mistakes simply couldn’t be overcome because the big three didn’t get the support they needed from the players around them.

The Boilers will return home for another big matchup against the Wisconsin Badgers, a team that is more than capable of coming into Mackey Arena and walking away with a victory. The Boilers fall to 11-3 in the B1G and into second place with the likelihood of needing to go 5-1 in their final six games to win another B1G title.