Gotta say, I’m not feeling good about this one…
Idk, winning at the RAC without Livers really just gave me a lot more confidence about this team on the road. Still think it’s a toss up if Livers doesn’t play but if he is good to go I’m pretty confident we can pull it out.
I think you nailed it with the Livers/Johns vs. Boudreaux/Wheeler matchup. That will be vital.
Also will be interesting with Haarms back in full for this one, as X made so many great plays at the rim in Ann Arbor without much rim protection.
Livers is the x-factor, for sure. And the you are right about the RAC and the way we are defending gives us a chance anywhere. I just am not confident we will shoot well enough (especially if no Livers) to offset their home shooting. If we can make some outside shots, that is the key.
As per the usual during that stretch Michigan got lots of good looks from three and missed a ton (24%). If X can get in the lane as he did at Crisler those shooters have got to knock them down when Haarms is in the game.
Purdue is such a weird team and this is a weird game to try and predict. I feel like the first five minutes will tell the story. If Purdue just comes out on fire like they have recently at home I am not sure Michigan can do anything to keep pace. If Purdue shoots their season average and not their home average from the field I think Michigan can win.
Hopefully Michigan got all their bad opponent shooting luck out of the way in the early part of Big Ten play, but I think Michigan has a better chance winning at OSU then they do winning on Saturday.
The good news I think Michigan is as equipped to handle “Good Purdue” as any team in the country. 85% of the home/road difference for Purdue is being on fire from 3. Michigan will not give up a lot of makeable threes, per usual. Michigan’s minimal help approach is the best way to attack Purdue.
This game is the least predictable event in the history of events. Start with Purdue’s bizarrely inconsistent play, add in that we have no idea whether Livers is playing, mix in the fact that Haarms essentially didn’t play in the first game so we don’t know what effect that will have, and that at some point you assume that Aaron Wheeler’s entirely inexplicable ineffectiveness is going to become entirely explicable effectiveness. This is flipping an infinitely-sided coin. Based on that, I predict a 71-43 win, but I’m not sure in favor of which team.
can’t remember but was Livers in the first game??
Completely forgot they only managed 37 points at Illinois. I’m pretty sure it was last year’s game at Mackey that was the most fun game of the season. We lost that, but the back and forth shootout for 6-7 minutes straight was just intense!
That game was two years ago but was a an all time shootout for sure.
Isaiah did not play in the matchup at Crisler.
And we got screwed by the reviewed out of bounds call on Charles
That was the game in Ann Arbor, not the shootout in Mackey right?
Everyone has tried to get those Purdue games out of their memories.
Yeah, that was the game at Crisler. Bleepin’ Gene Steratore!
Ha yeah I got them mixed up. Those losses made the B1G championship win so satisfying.
It’s crazy to look back on that season and remember that Duncan was barely playing at times.