Three Key Takeaways

The Boilermakers will play for a B1G title on Sunday. (Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar)

1. Purdue’s game plan was simple – and it worked. The Boilermakers boast one of the tallest and deepest frontlines in the country, with two players – AJ Hammons and Isaac Haas – standing more than seven-feet tall, and another, Caleb Swanigan, checking in at 6’9”, 250 pounds. Against the much smaller Wolverines, Purdue pounded the ball inside early, often, and to great effect. All told, Hammons, Haas and Swanigan combined for 45 points and 21 rebounds, including a dominant 27-point, 11-rebound effort from Hammons. No matter which team(s) Purdue draws in next week’s NCAA Tournament, they will be hard-pressed to stop the Boilmakers’ dominant big men – especially when Hammons plays like he did on Saturday.
2. The three-ball betrayed Michigan. The Wolverines found their fair share of good looks, too, but for a team that relies so heavily on three-pointers – Michigan generates nearly 40 percent of its points from behind the arc – not nearly enough of them fell through the cylinder on Saturday. John Beilein’s team shot just 6-for-25 from long distance, including 1-5 from the usually-automatic Duncan Robinson. Had they been able to slow down Purdue in the paint like they did in their 5-point victory over the Boilermakers in February, the Wolverines may have been able to overcome the poor shooting performance. But their lack of answers on the other end culminated in a 17-point defeat.
3. It’s tough to win three games in three days. Robinson and top scorer Zak Irvin came up short on numerous shots against Purdue, something we might normally chalk up to a “bad game”. But considering the circumstances on Saturday, the pattern was hard to ignore. After expending a great deal of physical and emotional energy in its dramatic victories over Northwestern and Indiana on Thursday and Friday, Michigan could not replicate its same desperate, high-level of play against the Boilermakers. Fatigue truly matters in these tournaments, especially for teams that must win four or five straight games in order to claim the title.

Star of the Game: Hammons. The seven-footer was simply unstoppable on Saturday, scoring 27 points on 11-for-17 shooting and pulling down 11 rebounds. Hammons put his full arsenal of post-moves on display, knocking down baby-hooks, hammering home lobs and using nimble footwork to own Michigan defenders on the baseline. When the senior plays like he did against the Wolverines, Purdue is incredibly difficult to beat.

Quotable: “We felt if he got 40 and we maybe shut down the other guys, we could win the game.” – Michigan coach John Beilein on his decision not to double-team Hammons. The plan clearly did not work on Saturday, which prompted the Wolverines’ head man to also note, “Today, Hammons was virtually unstoppable…the size of Hammons is almost shocking at times.”

Sights and Sounds: Midway through the second half, the 7’2” Purdue center Haas caught the ball near the basket, where – despite a swarm of Wolverine defenders trying to stop him – he immediately drew a foul. The play prompted one of Michigan’s managers to bewilderedly shout, “What can you do there?!? What can you do?!?”

What’s Next: Purdue will take on either Michigan State or Maryland for the Big Ten crown on Sunday afternoon. The Boilermakers beat the Spartans in their lone meeting back in February. They split a pair of regular season contests against the Terrapins.

Tommy Lemoine (250 Posts)

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 12th, 2016 at 4:24 pm by Tommy Lemoine and is filed under big ten, microsites. Tagged: aj hammons, big ten tournament, Duncan Robinson, isaac haas, john beilein, matt painter, michigan, ncaa tournament, purdue. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.