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.”