8 — Friday, January 26, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Moritz Wagner and Michigan had no answer for Purdue center Isaac Haas.

HAASTA LA VISTA

No. 25 Michigan falls to No. 3 Purdue, 92-88

It would have been easy for 

Michigan to get swallowed up 
on Thursday night.

Just like in Chapel Hill, and 

more recently in Lincoln, the 
Wolverines faced a halftime 
deficit against a high-octane 
offense and a defense that had 
their number in an environment 
as hostile as it gets.

In 
response, 
Michigan’s 

offense went nuts to begin the 
second half, making every shot 
it took and averaging 2.286 
points per possession through 
the first 10 minutes of the 
frame.

It was an offensive onslaught 

that would be good enough to 
put away almost any game. Not 
against Purdue, though. The 
Boilermakers stood tall, taking 
each punch the Wolverines 
threw and delivering one of 
their own in response en route 
to an eventual 92-88 victory.

For 
nearly 
11 
minutes, 

though, the teams played the 
most entertaining stretch of 
basketball in any Michigan 

game this season, one that 
yielded one of the best individual 
performances for a Wolverine 
in any game this season — from 
senior guard Muhammad-Ali 
Abdur-Rahkman.

The 
stretch 
started 

unassuming 
enough, 
with 

a missed three from junior 
forward Moritz Wagner. But 
redshirt 
sophomore 
guard 

Charles Matthews was there 
to clean up the miss, laying in a 
putback to get the ball rolling.

That 
was 
immediately 

answered by a 3-pointer from 
Boilermaker 
guard 
Dakota 

Mathias. And away the teams 
went.

For every shot there was a 

counter. The teams combined 
to shoot 24-for-30 from the 
field in the opening 10:50 of the 
second half.

“This is what you come 

to a Big Ten school to play 
basketball for,” said Purdue 
forward Vincent Edwards. “… 
That second half was a dream 
to play basketball in. So, I mean, 
we all soaked it in.”

It was the type of half that 

would 
have 
left 
Michigan 

grasping at air earlier in the 
season. Maybe that would have 
happened on Thursday, too, if it 
weren’t for Abdur-Rahkman.

The senior hit a layup at the 

18:28 mark. Then he stole the 
ball away from Purdue guard 
Carsen Edwards to start a 
fastbreak that ended in a dunk 
from Matthews that gave the 
Wolverines the lead for the first 
time in the half. Then Abdur-
Rahkman hit three go-ahead 
3-pointers in the span of five 
minutes, with the last one being 
a fall-away job from the left 
corner with 9:38 remaining.

When the stretch was over, 

Abdur-Rahkman had scored 14 
of his 26 total points in just 11 
minutes.

“I just got a couple easy shots 

— a layup and a wide-open 

three — and got going early, and 
just played confident.” Abdur-
Rahkman said.

Added Michigan coach John 

Beilein: “To have Muhammad-
Ali 
play 
that 
way 
is 
the 

expectation we have of seniors. 
That’s the trend I hope we’re 
going to see the rest of this 
season. (It’s) a little bit about 
the time when Derrick Walton 
took off, was about this time 
last year.”

What the game means for 

Abdur-Rahkman’s future aside, 
the performance was one that 
nearly gave Michigan another 
marquee win. It was one that 
nearly thrust the Wolverines 
head-first 
into 
national 

prominence.

But it didn’t.
When 
Abdur-Rahkman 

hit his first layup of the half, 
Purdue guard P.J. Thompson 
answered with a 3-pointer. 
Matthews’ dunk was answered 
with a bucket from Boilermaker 
center Isaac Haas in the post. 
All three of Abdur-Rahkman’s 
go-ahead 
3-pointers 
were 

erased by a Purdue bucket 
within the next minute. Twice, 
it was on the next possession.

In the end, the Wolverines 

were outlasted by a tireless 
Boilermaker 
team, 
as 
the 

memorable back-and-forth was 
followed by an 11-2 run from 
Purdue that ultimately spelled 
doom for Michigan.

Yet, for 11 minutes, the two 

teams stared each other down, 
daring the other to blink and 
lose control of the game. It 
didn’t matter how close the 
defender was or if the shooter’s 
feet were set, the shots were 
falling from wherever they 
were taken.

For 
11 
minutes, 
the 

Wolverines 
and 
the 

Boilermakers 
showed 
what 

they’re each capable of when 
they’re on their games. Purdue 
simply proved it for longer. 

Back-and-forth stretch not enough for ‘M’

MARK CALCAGNO

Daily Sports Editor

MIKE PERSAK

Managing Sports Editor

“America, meet Purdue.”

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

The third-ranked Boilermakers are a tough matchup for anyone with their combination of size and shooting.
T

he pregame theatrics at 
Mackey Arena are quite a 

sight.

Blink-

ing lights 
scatter 
the arena, 
the ritual 
chants 
splatter 
expletives 
at in-
state rival 
Indiana. 
Students 
line the seats to the rafters, 
swaying back and forth in prepa-
ration. Right before the lineup 
announcements and tip-off — 
just seconds before the lights 
dim and the show begins — a 
video starts on the jumbotron. 
There’s one sentence before the 
crowd renders it nearly inau-
dible. 

“America, meet Purdue.”
With a 92-88 win over 

Michigan Thursday night, the 
Boilermakers have now won 16 
games in a row. It’s a team that 

embarassed Arizona and Lou-
isville early in the year. Since, it 
has only steamrolled opponents 
on the way to a perfect confer-
ence record. It has arguably 
the most unguardable center 
in the nation, surrounding him 
with four players who shoot 40 
percent or better from 3-point 
range.

“You have five lights out 

shooters — I 
mean, lights 
out,” said Michi-
gan coach John 
Beilein. “Nik 
Stauskas, Tim 
Hardaway, Trey 
Burke, right? But 
with five of them 
on the perimeter, 
with an incred-
ible big man. It’s 
a very difficult 
challenge for everybody.

“I don’t think I’m crazy, you 

guys have seen teams that have 
come into the Big Ten. Who 
has five guys that shoot on the 
run? They don’t even have to get 
themselves open.”

It all starts with behemoth 

center Isaac Haas. Each time the 
7-foot-2 center touches the ball 
in the paint without an imme-
diate double-team, a chorus of 
suprised cheer rains around the 
arena, as if they’re collectively 
getting away with some crime.

Perhaps single-teaming Haas 

should be a crime. If given posi-
tion in the lane, Haas catches 

and lays the ball 
in with incompo-
rable inevitabil-
ity. He scored all 
six of his team’s 
points in the first 
four minutes 
of the game, 
and notched 
24 points on 14 
shots in just 20 
minutes. 

“You guys try 

and go guard him,” Beilein said. 
“It is impossible.”

But that’s what makes Purdue 

so difficult to play: Beilein didn’t 
even care that Haas was domi-
nating.

“If Haas scored 40 points with 

20 twos it’s okay with us,” he 
said. “But we weren’t going to 
give up the three. We couldn’t do 
that. They’re just too good.”

For much of the game Thurs-

day night, though, Michigan 
matched Purdue shot for shot.

Senior guard Muhammad-

Ali Abdur-Rahkman played 
arguably the best game of his 
career, notching 
26 points with 
step-back threes 
and even some 
uncharacteristic 
bravado. Sopho-
more point guard 
Zavier Simpson 
notched a career-
high 16 points of 
his own.

In total, the 

Wolverines 
scored an absurd 1.48 points 
per possession, made eight of its 
12 3-point attempts, scored 52 
points and got 29 points com-
bined from Abdur-Rahkman and 

junior center Moritz Wagner in 
the second half. And lost.

Purdue took every blow, and 

punched back. It matched every 
Wagner attack with a Haas 
hammer, followed every Abdur-
Rahkman deep three with a 
deeper one of its own. In the end, 
the Boilermakers emerged with 
a 92-88 victory, and continued 

on its torment-
ing run of domi-
nance. 

Purdue ranks 

third nationally 
in the Associated 
Press top-25. It 
also ranks top-
10 nationally in 
both adjusted 
offensive and 
defensive effi-
ciency. 

“They provide a difficult 

matchup with size inside and the 
shooters everywhere. Not many 
teams are like them,” Abdur-
Rahkman said. “We kept fighting 

until the end, but it just wasn’t 
enough.”

And yet, perhaps based on 

preconceived notions or past his-
tory, the Boilermakers still aren’t 
getting their due nationally.

The Boilermakers haven’t 

made it past the Sweet Sixteen 
since the 1999-2000 season. Last 
year they reached the Sweet 
Sixteen only to be eviscerated, 
98-66, by Kansas. Only time will 
tell if this team is, indeed, differ-
ent in the postseason.

But that doesn’t faze them.
“I believe we’re a really good 

team,” Haas said after the game, 
before pausing to reconsider that 
stance. “I believe we’re the best 
team in the nation. And I just 
want to show everybody.”

America, meet Purdue.
You’ll be seeing quite a bit of 

them come March and April.

Max Marcovitch can be reached 

at maxmarco@umich.edu or at @

Max_Marcovitch on Twitter.

MAX
MARCOVITCH

Zavier Simpson thought he had 

it.

With his team desperate for 

a bucket, the sophomore point 
guard jutted into the lane and 
rolled a layup off his fingertips. A 
make would’ve put the Michigan 
men’s basketball team within one 
shot of Purdue.

But Boilermakers guard Carsen 

Edwards had different plans. 
Edwards poked the attempt away. 
The Wolverines would finish the 
possession empty-handed.

The play proved to be a 

microcosm of Thursday night.

Michigan played one of its best 

games of the season, shooting 
60 percent from the floor with a 
13-for-23 effort from deep.

Yet, 
like 
Simpson 
against 

Edwards, the Wolverines couldn’t 
surpass one of the country’s best.

In a contest that featured 24 

lead changes, No. 3 Purdue (8-0 
Big Ten, 20-2 overall) outlasted 
the 25th-ranked Wolverines (6-4, 
17-6), 92-88, at a raucous Mackey 
Arena on Thursday.

Led 
by 
30 
points 
from 

guard Vincent Edwards, the 
Boilermakers made 31 of 50 
attempts on the night to score the 
most they have in conference play. 

“You can’t win a game without 

defense — they scored 92 points 
today,” 
said 
junior 
forward 

Moritz Wagner. “We gotta do 
better defensively.”

Those 
struggles 
were 

compounded by Purdue guards 
who seemingly couldn’t miss 
from outside, shooting 55 percent 
from beyond the arc.

The Wolverines allow just over 

five 3-pointers per game. Purdue 
hit 11 Thursday.

“I think we’re one of the 

leaders in the country (in 3-point 
defense),” said Michigan coach 
John Beilein. “If (center Isaac) 
Haas scored 40 points, we’re 
okay, but we weren’t going to give 

up the 3. We couldn’t do that.”

Still, the Wolverines were able 

to match Purdue for most of the 
night.

Early in the second half, a pair 

of triples and a layup from senior 
guard Muhammed-Ali Abdur-
Rahkman gave Michigan a one-
point lead.

He’d really start to feel it, 

wearing his pink-coated Jordan’s 
amidst a sea of black and gold, ten 
minutes later.

With the game tied at 65, 

Abdur-Rakhman 
spotted 
up 

from the 3-point line. Calm and 
collected as always, he pulled the 
trigger even as Dakota Mathias 
came charging towards him. No 
panic, just buckets — giving the 
Wolverines the lead with roughly 
nine minutes to play.

But Purdue always had an 

answer. 
It 
came 
frequently 

courtesy of Vincent Edwards.

With a triple and pair of layups, 

he scored seven straight points 
for the Boilermakers as they went 
on an 11-2 run to take a nine-point 
lead.

“You can’t stop some of the 

shots that Vince Edwards made,” 
Beilein said. “They were just too 
good for us tonight.”

Michigan crawled back and cut 

the deficit to four with a minute 
and change left. But timely 
steals and 11-of-12 free-throws 
down the stretch sealed it for the 
Boilermakers.

“Shots were going in,” Abdur-

Rahkman said, “and we knew we 
needed to weather their storm as 
much as possible, then bounce 
back. We didn’t do that enough.”

As he was for most of the 

night, Haas was unstoppable 
— 
especially 
in 
the 
game’s 

opening moments. A feed, spin 
and hook shot was the seven-
footer’s go-to combination for the 
Boilermakers’ first three baskets.

The Wolverines couldn’t stop 

him from getting the ball inside. 
Carsen Edwards and Mathias 
made strong entry passes to end 

whatever chances the Wolverines 
had of guarding Haas down low.

“He’s impossible to guard, and 

he’s a bad matchup for us,” Beilein 
said. “You probably need a twin 
brother to guard him in the post.”

The Wolverines kept things in 

the first half close thanks to an 
unlikely source.

Early in the half, Beilein pulled 

his starting point guard aside 
after a bricked 3-pointer. But 
Simpson made his second attempt 
from deep — and more — count, 
finishing with a career-high 16 
points.

In the end, though, it was yet 

another effort from Simpson 
and the Wolverines that came 
up 
just 
short 
against 
the 

Boilermakers.

Their first meeting went to 

the wire on Jan. 9 — but two 
late calls and the game went 
Purdue’s way, 70-69. 

Fifth-year 
senior 
Duncan 

Robinson said that first matchup 
didn’t “sit well” on Wednesday.

Thursday’s loss will feel the 

same way. 

“It’s incredible,” Beilein said. 

“They didn’t miss a shot and we 
almost came out of here with a 
‘W’ ”

“They provide 

a difficult 

matchup with 
size inside.”

“You guys try 
and go guard 

him. It is 

impossible.”

