The No. 1 Michigan Wolverines blew past the Purdue Boilermakers on Tuesday night in West Lafayette, 91-80. Elliot Cadeau had a huge second half, finishing with 17 points, seven assists and four rebounds to help the Wolverines stay atop the Big Ten standings. Michigan moved to 25-1 overall and 15-1 in conference play with its 10th straight win.
Here’s how it all went down.
FIRST HALF
The game started just as you would expect between the two powerhouse programs — slow, physical and methodical. After Michigan
and Purdue combined going 0-for-6 in the first two minutes, Fletcher Loyer broke things open with five quick points.
Then something clicked for the Wolverines. Nimari Burnett drained a triple from the corner, Morez Johnson Jr. slammed one home, and Yaxel Lendeborg knocked down his first three of the game after two offensive rebounds. Purdue then got into a funk, going on a four-minute drought. Michigan started flexing its size, getting Mara and Lendeborg going in the post. Ten minutes in, Michigan led, 21-11.
The next three minutes featured some fireworks. Michigan received huge production from its bench, as L.J. Cason scored five straight. Purdue continued to fail to convert on offense, and Ocsar Cluff even picked up a technical foul. After Trey McKenney made the free throw and Will Tschetter made a three in the corner, the Wolverines had their biggest lead of the game at 15 points.
Omer Mayer finally ended Purdue’s drought with a three, and then he got into a rhythm with a floater over Mara. Johnson then turned the inbound pass over, and Purdue cut the deficit back to nine. Michigan took the momentum right back, however, as McKenney, Cadeau and Lendeborg all made threes to push the lead to 17 with about six to play in the first half, 37-20.
Loyer got the Boilermakers back in it with a three, and Mayer made a moving three over Mara to cut the deficit some more. But Mara got his revenge on the other end with a few tough buckets and a block to keep Michigan’s lead to 16.
The Wolverines easily looked like the better team in the latter part of the second half, grabbing eight offensive rebounds to go with 13 defensive boards, shooting 50 percent from three (8-for-16) and getting points from all nine players that touched the floor. Meanwhile, Purdue went 3-for-8 on layups, with 3-of-5 starters failing to score in the half. Mara and Lendeborg ended the half with 10 points each, and Trey Kaufman-Renn led all scorers with 14 first-half points.
HALFTIME: MICHIGAN 48, PURDUE 32
SECOND HALF
Cadeau opened the second half with a quick three, but Michigan went ice cold right after, going on a three-minute drought. Looking to take advantage, Purdue put the ball in Braden Smith’s hands, who scored his first five points of the contest to cut the deficit to 13.
Cadeau then responded with another three, and Burnett took advantage of a turnover and slammed it home in transition to balloon the lead back to 18. Kaufman-Renn then added four more points, forcing May to call a timeout at the 14:42 mark at 56-42.
With both teams struggling to get back into a rhythm, Michigan and Purdue let the guards take over. Cadeau scored 12 points through the first 10 minutes of the second half, and Smith scored 10 in the same timeframe. When Cadeau got a breather, Cason and McKenney took over the production, as Cason converted on two tough buckets and McKenney nailed another three off a turnover. With less than nine minutes left, the Wolverines led 69-53.
Running out of time, Purdue attempted to close the gap, scoring five points off a couple Michigan fouls and turnovers. McKenney clapped back with another three to give the Wolverines a 14-point cushion, but Kaufman-Renn kept the pressure on with an and-one to cut the deficit to 11.
With four minutes left, Johnson converted from the charity stripe and Lendeborg made a big three, while Purdue’s CJ Cox made his first field goal of the night on a three and Smith also made two more free throws to keep the game manageable. Lendeborg blocked two three-point attempts, but Loyer re-emerged by getting fouled on a three. Following another Michigan turnover, Gicarri Harris scored to cut it to eight with two minutes to play. Mara then fouled out, and May needed to calm his team down.
Out of the timeout, Johnson scored in transition and Cadeau drew a foul. Purdue made another three to keep up the run, but Johnson slammed the door shut with an and-one in transition to give Michigan an 11-point lead with 44 seconds left.
Despite getting outscored in the second half, the Wolverines beat another top program in the country on the road in arguably one of the most difficult environments. Outside of turnovers, Michigan led in almost every statistic, winning the field goal percentage battle (53 percent to 39 percent), three-point percentage (57 percent to 31 percent), rebounds (39 to 31), assists (24 to 12) and bench points (34 to 15).
In the end, the Wolverines were the better team, and they left Mackey Arena victorious, 91-80.
FINAL SCORE: MICHIGAN 91, PURDUE 80
MICHIGAN STAT LEADERS
- G Elliot Cadeau: 17 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds
- F Yaxel Lendeborg: 13 points, 7 assists
- G Trey McKenney: 13 points
- F Morez Johnson Jr: 12 points, 11 rebounds
- G L.J. Cason: 13 points
PURDUE STAT LEADERS
- F Trey Kaufman-Renn: 27 points, 12 rebounds
- G Braden Smith: 20 points, 6 assists (all points in 2nd half)
- G Fletcher Loyer: 11 points, 4 rebounds
UP NEXT
The Wolverines will aim to stay as the top team in the country in the nation’s Capital, taking on No. 4 Duke in Washington D.C. on Saturday (6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN).
