Purdue Basketball Still Searching For Defensive Success as Offense Falters Against Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Purdue basketball, spearheaded by its dynamic offense, has scored less than 70 points in just four games this season. Each of those matchups have resulted in a loss, and none worse than an 82-58 thrashing on the road against Michigan on Thursday night.
“I feel like we just didn’t lock in defensively,” Purdue star sophomore Jaden Ivey said after scoring a team-high 18 points in the loss. “They played a great game and couldn’t miss. It was just our mistakes on defense that got them going, and they just took off from there.”
The team’s poor defense has been evident throughout the 2021-22 season. The Boilermakers are allowing 69.2 points per game on 42.6% shooting. Both statistics rank in the bottom half of the Big Ten.
Most of the time, allowing opposing runs and breaking down on the defensive end of the floor doesn’t matter when the team puts up a league-leading 83.4 points per game.
But after a quick turnaround, No. 3 Purdue shot 44% from the field which included 4-18 from the 3-point line inside the Crisler Center. It turned the ball over eight times in the first half and allowed Michigan to hit on more than half its shots from beyond the arc.
The Wolverines also outrebounded the Boilermakers 35-25. It’s games like these where defense needs to be the difference maker, but it wasn’t. Now, Purdue has fallen out of the Big Ten lead sitting at an overall record of 21-4 and 10-4 in league play.
“When you get outrebounded the way we did, and then you get doubled up in turnovers, and then you don’t shoot the ball well, you better be very, very good on the defensive end if you want to have a chance to win the game,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “And we obviously weren’t. When you look at all of those — poor shooting percentages, twice as many turnovers, they outrebounded us by 10, a lot of breakdowns defensively — you’re going to get beat pretty badly.”
Michigan found success early getting the ball in the paint as sophomore center Zach Edey struggled with fouls in the first half. Edey played just four minutes before halftime, and the Wolverines recorded 26 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes.
Sophomore center Hunter Dickinson and freshman forward Moussa Diabate each racked up double-digit scoring in the opening period. Diabate led Michigan with 13 points before the break. Dickinson had 12, going 5-for-8 from the floor while hitting a pair of 3-pointers.
Typically, Purdue asserts itself as the aggressor underneath the basket. But the team had just 16 first-half points inside the paint.
“We just had a lot of breakdowns on that end, we weren’t communicating well enough,” Purdue senior guard Sasha Stefanovic said. “There are certain things that they did ball screen wise we just had trouble with. Our scheme and everything, we just didn’t execute it properly, and they capitalized on it.”
The Boilermakers started the game 1-9 from the 3-point line before the Wolverines drilled 12 of their 21 shots from deep. Michigan was efficient on the offensive end, scoring on 52% of its shots and turning the ball over just seven times.
Purdue could only muster two steals on the night, and neither Ivey nor senior forward Trevion Williams could snatch the ball away even once. And without finding success on the glass, the Boilermakers failed to take control with transition offense.
The team had just five assists all game and scored two points on fastbreak opportunities.
“That’s life on the road,” Williams said. “You don’t get calls, your shot doesn’t always fall, so how do you win? And that’s one thing we want to focus on. Obviously, they played really well, so respect to Michigan. They played harder than us. All we can do is let it humble us, and we just move on and be better because of it.”
The last time the Boilermakers lost a game on the road, they rattled off six straight wins. But in the race for a Big Ten Championship, Purdue has often been bailed out thanks to its high-efficiency offense.
The team is back in action Sunday against Maryland at Mackey Arena, a team that is third-worst in the conference in points per game and shooting percentage. The loss to Michigan will look to serve as a stepping stone toward an improved defensive effort moving forward.
“Our next game is our biggest one,” Stefanovic said. “So we get Maryland on Sunday, and we have to be ready to go. They’re a hungry team, they’re looking for a quality win especially on the road. They’re really talented, I have a lot of respect for a lot of the guys on their team. You just watch film, move on, try to get better from it and then get ready to go.”
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.