Photo Credit: Aaron J. Thornton
By Aaron J. Thornton
The Michigan Men’s Basketball team put together one of their best performances of the season to claim victory over the #3 nationally ranked Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday night. Offensively and defensively throughout the game, the Wolverines showed just why they were a preseason top 10 team.
Michigan led most of the game, but it wasn’t until late in the first half when they started to put separation, on the scoreboard, between themselves and Purdue. The Boilermakers were held to just 11% shooting (1-9) from behind the three point arc in the first half. And behind a solid offensive attack upfront from Hunter Dickinson (12 points at half) and Moussa Diabate (13 points at half), the Wolverines led by 9 points at half time (38-29).
The Maize and Blue continued to build upon their first half dominance in the second half, eventually leading by as many as 29 points which included a run where they made 5 straight three point baskets. For the game, Michigan would shoot a red hot 57% for three pointers (12-21) compared to Purdue’s 22% (4-18). All the energy was with the Wolverines and that spilled over into the crowd as the fans stormed the court after the final buzzer sounded in celebration of the big victory.
The Wolverines’ Dickinson led all scorers in the game with 22 points. Eli Brooks added 18 points shooting an impressive 7-8 from the field (4-4 for three pointers). Diabate, Caleb Houstan, and DeVante’ Jones also scored in double figures with 15, 14, and 11 respectively. For the Boilermakers, Jaden Ivey finished with 18 points and Trevion Williams contributed 12 points.
Michigan improves to 13-9 overall (7-5 in conference) and will host the Buckeyes from Ohio State in their next game on Saturday. Purdue gets just their 4th loss of the season and falls to 21-4 overall (10-4 in conference).
