Again, we'll do these look-back sorts of things periodically through the season, but didn't have time after Nebraska or Rutgers. Here's some stuff on the Michigan game after rewatching.
• On the final play. Obviously, it was a foul and I don't think any non-partisans are disputing that, but I also think it was a bailout by Michigan.
Clearly, the ball was supposed to go in to Dakota Mathias flashing to the corner and for Isaac Haas then to get deeper by filling in behind the cutting Mathias for a quick entry from said corner. But as they said after the game, Charles Matthews took away the inbound to Mathias, as did Zavier Simpson, who sagged off the inbounder at the last moment to block off the corner.
In part because of it, there was a clean alley for Carsen Edwards to cut out the middle man by throwing straight to Haas. If Simpson doesn't sag, that pass might not be there, but it was.
But had Haas not been fouled, he's catching the ball a good seven feet from the basket, not as deep as Purdue would like. He said after the game that he figured he could turn and shoot a quick hook, but that's not his spot for that particular shot.
I think Purdue got a gift there by Wagner clearly fouling him, but by John Beilein unwisely giving that foul prior. The foul-to-give they used on Carsen Edwards bringing the ball up the floor was No. 6 and put Purdue in the one-and-one. I'm sure there's some coaching protocol on narrowing your opponent's window of opportunity by letting the clock run, then fouling, but for a team that is going inside no matter what in that situation to a guy who's going to draw a foul three times out of 10, that just seemed like a bad decision by Michigan, obviously with hindsight being what it is.
(I should add too that Carsen Edwards might have gifted Purdue a second by not picking the ball up right away on the inbound headed up the floor, so if Michigan's aim was to have Purdue inbounding with 2.5-3 seconds left or whatever then that mattered too.)
• So much got lost in the final few minutes of this game because of the drama in the final few seconds, but Purdue's last few defensive possessions might have been its best string of hard-fought stops of the season, or at least its most important.
Every shot Michigan took after Vincent Edwards' game-tying three was either settled for or challenged. The Wolverines looked directionless out there with the game on the line.
It started with Purdue's pressure on Michigan's guards. Floor-slappin' Carsen Edwards in particular was great.
Here was the rundown of the final three Michigan possessions.
- Zavier Simpson missed (bad) jumper between three Purdue defenders
- Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman settling for a tough three over Matt Haarms up top after Haarms clearly stifled his plan to drive past him. Nice luxury for Purdue to have there in a 7-3 dude who isn't a turnstile in that situation. A stoppage of some kind might have been ideal there, so Matt Painter could get Haas back in the game for the ensuing offensive possession, which resulted in Carsen Edwards missing a jumper.
- Mathias strips Matthews going up, and replay determines it was Purdue ball. Michigan had such a great plan for that possession that it attempted exactly zero passes and contemplated that many. Might have been a sign of frustration on Michigan's part, I don't know, because that was straight-up take-his-a$$ ball being run on the biggest possession of the game by one of the best offensive programs in college basketball.
• Some people came at us on Twitter the other night after we suggested Matt Haarms' three-point try late in the game wasn't the 'time or place' for it, and we will admit that the TV monitor on press row in front of us didn't obscure our view of the shot clock, but that being said, Haarms did catch the ball with five seconds left and Dakota Mathias standing right next to him, with his defender scrambling to get back to him.
Haarms is going to be able to make that shot and can now. He just hasn't this season, yet.
Easy to say from the cheap seats, of course.
Give credit to Michigan there for stymying Purdue on that possession.
• On Matthews' would-be game-winner that barely missed, P.J. Thompson made a great play by just running in front of Matthews to cut off his path ever so slightly without even raising an arm to risk a foul. He basically made a bee-line to Beilein, flashing right in front of Matthews on his way, disrupting things ever so slightly. If Thompson doesn't get in the way, Matthews might advance another couple feet.
Vincent Edwards too got just close enough to be annoying without doing anything at all that could have put him at risk of a foul.
That's sort of a wing-and-a-prayer situation defensively, where you can't really plan, and it was a live-ball deal, with no window for coaching prior. Purdue's two veterans played that about as well as you could in a situation like that.
And Matthews still damn near made the shot.
• I do think Haas got in Mo Wagner's head, not because he was so mouthy, but because he made some really bad decisions. He took an awful shot with 3:05 left when he had Mathias on his back, but it was like a 12-foot fadeaway that missed badly. Again, take-his-a$$ ball, surprising for Michigan, but also a credit to Purdue. Earlier, Haas scored on Wagner and Wagner came right back down over-eager, posted Haas, threw himself into Haas, traveled and fell down.
• Does Purdue beat Michigan without Nojel Eastern? Probably not.
Look, during that stretch inside 10 minutes, Purdue was really struggling to score and Eastern saved their bacon, physically dominating the guards trying to block him out for a pair of putbacks that proved crucial later.
That's the upshot of having a gigantic point guard but also a credit to the freshman's effort. Two games in a row now he's not only done positive things, but done positive things to affect a game's outcome.
His rebound of Ryan Cline's missed three around the nine-minute mark was a grown-man rebound in traffic. And the second one, the rebound of Vincent Edwards' missed jumper, it wasn't a 5-10 guard Eastern was punking out, it was Michigan's 6-8 4 man, Duncan Robinson — not exactly Karl Malone, but still ...
• Obviously, Michigan did have some success iso'ing Purdue's big men on guards, but those guards did take a whole bunch of step-back or out-of-rhythm threes in those situations, too. Even after Michigan started having some success offensively against it, it was still taking less-than-ideal shots, and the screen-switching strategy did also feed into the overlying theme of Michigan's offense devolving into one-on-one AAU ball more than its typical ball-movement-predicated style that's traditionally been such a pain to defend.
• In a one-point outcome, everything matters, and this sequence is very much included.
In the first half, Purdue had Grady Eifert in at the 4 — Matt Haarms was in at center — and the forward impacted the game immediately.
Eastern drove on Duncan Robinson, but missed a runner. The shot drew Jon Teske away from the basket and Zavier Simpson, caught in a switch, didn't even consider trying to block out Eifert, who darted to the back side of the rim and grabbed the rebound. He kicked to the corner to Mathias for a three that missed.
Duncan Robinson got two hands on the rebound, but as he brought it down Eifert dove and took it away and pitched it to Haarms, who threw to Eastern, who dribbled toward the basket to free Mathias in the corner, hit him and Mathias hit the three. That was a great play by Eastern, too, but two great plays by Eifert.
It was so important that Purdue's backups just found ways, one way or another, to generate offense for the Boilermakers when they had some limited lineups on the floor. Effort and hustle did the trick.
• On the final play. Obviously, it was a foul and I don't think any non-partisans are disputing that, but I also think it was a bailout by Michigan.
Clearly, the ball was supposed to go in to Dakota Mathias flashing to the corner and for Isaac Haas then to get deeper by filling in behind the cutting Mathias for a quick entry from said corner. But as they said after the game, Charles Matthews took away the inbound to Mathias, as did Zavier Simpson, who sagged off the inbounder at the last moment to block off the corner.
In part because of it, there was a clean alley for Carsen Edwards to cut out the middle man by throwing straight to Haas. If Simpson doesn't sag, that pass might not be there, but it was.
But had Haas not been fouled, he's catching the ball a good seven feet from the basket, not as deep as Purdue would like. He said after the game that he figured he could turn and shoot a quick hook, but that's not his spot for that particular shot.
I think Purdue got a gift there by Wagner clearly fouling him, but by John Beilein unwisely giving that foul prior. The foul-to-give they used on Carsen Edwards bringing the ball up the floor was No. 6 and put Purdue in the one-and-one. I'm sure there's some coaching protocol on narrowing your opponent's window of opportunity by letting the clock run, then fouling, but for a team that is going inside no matter what in that situation to a guy who's going to draw a foul three times out of 10, that just seemed like a bad decision by Michigan, obviously with hindsight being what it is.
(I should add too that Carsen Edwards might have gifted Purdue a second by not picking the ball up right away on the inbound headed up the floor, so if Michigan's aim was to have Purdue inbounding with 2.5-3 seconds left or whatever then that mattered too.)
• So much got lost in the final few minutes of this game because of the drama in the final few seconds, but Purdue's last few defensive possessions might have been its best string of hard-fought stops of the season, or at least its most important.
Every shot Michigan took after Vincent Edwards' game-tying three was either settled for or challenged. The Wolverines looked directionless out there with the game on the line.
It started with Purdue's pressure on Michigan's guards. Floor-slappin' Carsen Edwards in particular was great.
Here was the rundown of the final three Michigan possessions.
- Zavier Simpson missed (bad) jumper between three Purdue defenders
- Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman settling for a tough three over Matt Haarms up top after Haarms clearly stifled his plan to drive past him. Nice luxury for Purdue to have there in a 7-3 dude who isn't a turnstile in that situation. A stoppage of some kind might have been ideal there, so Matt Painter could get Haas back in the game for the ensuing offensive possession, which resulted in Carsen Edwards missing a jumper.
- Mathias strips Matthews going up, and replay determines it was Purdue ball. Michigan had such a great plan for that possession that it attempted exactly zero passes and contemplated that many. Might have been a sign of frustration on Michigan's part, I don't know, because that was straight-up take-his-a$$ ball being run on the biggest possession of the game by one of the best offensive programs in college basketball.
• Some people came at us on Twitter the other night after we suggested Matt Haarms' three-point try late in the game wasn't the 'time or place' for it, and we will admit that the TV monitor on press row in front of us didn't obscure our view of the shot clock, but that being said, Haarms did catch the ball with five seconds left and Dakota Mathias standing right next to him, with his defender scrambling to get back to him.
Haarms is going to be able to make that shot and can now. He just hasn't this season, yet.
Easy to say from the cheap seats, of course.
Give credit to Michigan there for stymying Purdue on that possession.
• On Matthews' would-be game-winner that barely missed, P.J. Thompson made a great play by just running in front of Matthews to cut off his path ever so slightly without even raising an arm to risk a foul. He basically made a bee-line to Beilein, flashing right in front of Matthews on his way, disrupting things ever so slightly. If Thompson doesn't get in the way, Matthews might advance another couple feet.
Vincent Edwards too got just close enough to be annoying without doing anything at all that could have put him at risk of a foul.
That's sort of a wing-and-a-prayer situation defensively, where you can't really plan, and it was a live-ball deal, with no window for coaching prior. Purdue's two veterans played that about as well as you could in a situation like that.
And Matthews still damn near made the shot.
• I do think Haas got in Mo Wagner's head, not because he was so mouthy, but because he made some really bad decisions. He took an awful shot with 3:05 left when he had Mathias on his back, but it was like a 12-foot fadeaway that missed badly. Again, take-his-a$$ ball, surprising for Michigan, but also a credit to Purdue. Earlier, Haas scored on Wagner and Wagner came right back down over-eager, posted Haas, threw himself into Haas, traveled and fell down.
• Does Purdue beat Michigan without Nojel Eastern? Probably not.
Look, during that stretch inside 10 minutes, Purdue was really struggling to score and Eastern saved their bacon, physically dominating the guards trying to block him out for a pair of putbacks that proved crucial later.
That's the upshot of having a gigantic point guard but also a credit to the freshman's effort. Two games in a row now he's not only done positive things, but done positive things to affect a game's outcome.
His rebound of Ryan Cline's missed three around the nine-minute mark was a grown-man rebound in traffic. And the second one, the rebound of Vincent Edwards' missed jumper, it wasn't a 5-10 guard Eastern was punking out, it was Michigan's 6-8 4 man, Duncan Robinson — not exactly Karl Malone, but still ...
• Obviously, Michigan did have some success iso'ing Purdue's big men on guards, but those guards did take a whole bunch of step-back or out-of-rhythm threes in those situations, too. Even after Michigan started having some success offensively against it, it was still taking less-than-ideal shots, and the screen-switching strategy did also feed into the overlying theme of Michigan's offense devolving into one-on-one AAU ball more than its typical ball-movement-predicated style that's traditionally been such a pain to defend.
• In a one-point outcome, everything matters, and this sequence is very much included.
In the first half, Purdue had Grady Eifert in at the 4 — Matt Haarms was in at center — and the forward impacted the game immediately.
Eastern drove on Duncan Robinson, but missed a runner. The shot drew Jon Teske away from the basket and Zavier Simpson, caught in a switch, didn't even consider trying to block out Eifert, who darted to the back side of the rim and grabbed the rebound. He kicked to the corner to Mathias for a three that missed.
Duncan Robinson got two hands on the rebound, but as he brought it down Eifert dove and took it away and pitched it to Haarms, who threw to Eastern, who dribbled toward the basket to free Mathias in the corner, hit him and Mathias hit the three. That was a great play by Eastern, too, but two great plays by Eifert.
It was so important that Purdue's backups just found ways, one way or another, to generate offense for the Boilermakers when they had some limited lineups on the floor. Effort and hustle did the trick.
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