Third-seeded Michigan opens its Big Ten tournament with a quarterfinal matchup against sixth-seeded Purdue in Indianapolis on Friday, trying to advance but also attempting to return to the win column ahead of the NCAA Tournament.
No. 22-ranked Michigan (22-9) fell out of the Big Ten’s regular-season title race with a late-season slide, dropping four of six and the last three in a row. Two of those Wolverines losses — March 2 vs. Illinois and on Sunday at Michigan State — came by double digits.
Contributing to Michigan’s woes in this slide is a Wolverines offense that averaged 78.5 points per game for the regular season but managed only 73, 65 and 62 points against Illinois, Maryland and Michigan State.
Wolverines coach Dusty May said in his press conference ahead of the Big Ten tournament that guard Tre Donaldson will be key to Michigan pulling out of its rut.
“We need Tre to play like Tre if we’re going to be at our best,” May said. “If you look at our most productive games — UCLA (a 94-75 Michigan win on Jan. 7), the first half at Indiana (70-67 Michigan win on Feb. 8) — it’s when Tre was running our team at a high level.”
Donaldson had a run scoring in double figures through 13-of-14 games from Dec. 18 through Feb. 11, concluding with 12 points in Michigan’s 75-73 home win over Purdue. In the seven games since, Donaldson has scored in double figures only twice.
Still, Donaldson is one of three Wolverines averaging in double figures with 11.5 points per game, and the only guard of the trio. Seven-footer Danny Wolf and 7-foot-1 Vladislav Goldin are posting 12.9 and 16.7 points per game, respectively.
Michigan’s interior duo faces a frontcourt for No. 20 Purdue that features Trey Kaufman-Renn, second in the Big Ten in scoring through the regular season, and the catalyst of the Boilermakers’ 76-71 win on Thursday over Southern California.
Purdue (22-10) closed its second-round matchup by outscoring the Trojans over the final four minutes, 11-4. Kaufman-Renn was responsible for seven of the 11 en route to 30 points.
His Boilermakers frontcourt mate, Camden Heide, went for nine point and 11 rebounds.
“To have somebody really step it up, give us it all, defend and rebound, that’s what we need,” Kaufman-Renn said of Heide’s role in Purdue’s March aspirations. “We’re going to need him to continue doing that. We’ve got to get other guys too, me included, [having] better energy to start the game.”
The Boilermakers will try to avoid replicating the 10-point hole from which they had to climb out on Thursday. Purdue’s rally past USC sets up a rubber match after the Boilermakers and Wolverines split the regular-season series.
Purdue won in West Lafayette, Ind., 91-64 on Jan. 24.
Michigan survived in the return matchup on Feb. 11 in Ann Arbor, Mich., when Purdue’s Braden Smith missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 75-73 win. Smith scored 24 points and dished seven assists in the loss, and went for 24 points and 10 assists in the January win.
Kaufman-Renn scored 15 and 22 points in the two prior meetings with Michigan. The 22-point outing is part of a run in which Kaufman-Renn scored at least 22 points in 11 of 14 games, including his 30-point outing on Thursday.
In Michigan’s February win, Wolf joined Donaldson scoring in double figures with team highs of 15 points and nine rebounds. The Wolverines got 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench from Roddy Gayle Jr.
–Field Level Media
