Michigan basketball seeks to end Mackey Arena drought vs. Purdue amidst shaky play

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The No. 21-ranked Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball team is gearing up to take on the No. 11-ranked Purdue Boilermakers in a potentially big-time matchup.

Michigan (14-4, 6-1 Big Ten) will travel to Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana, to do battle with Purdue (15-5, 7-2 Big Ten), but they’ll need to clean up a few things to reach the level.

The Wolverines are coming off their second overtime thriller, in which they defeated the Northwestern Wildcats 80-76 inside Crisler Center.

Before Sunday’s victory, Michigan’s first overtime thriller occurred on Jan. 16 when they lost 84-81 after Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Dawson Garcia drained a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to give the Wolverines its first loss in Big Ten play.

The loss was embarrassing because Michigan was undefeated in conference play, while Minnesota hadn’t won a game in conference play until that game.

Through 18 games, Michigan has a tendency that continues to rear its ugly head at inopportune times.

For example, in their four losses, the Wolverines were outscored by a combined eight points, meaning minor errors like turnovers, free throws, and other similar errors cost them those victories.

Besides that, they blew double-digit leads in seven games this season.

Michigan basketball games are reminiscent of Groundhog Day as they’ll come out like gangbusters, take a big lead, and then, due to a lack of focus, start turning the ball over, let their opponent climb back into the game, and then they’re in a dogfight.

“We had a lack of discipline and a lack of focus from my teammates and I, like the last few days,” said junior forward Danny Wolf after the Minnesota game. “In a league like this, you can’t have that happen. We just got to take it on the chin and move on.”

Turnovers and untimely missed free throws doomed them to an upset defeat against Minnesota, but Sunday’s home game was different.

They looked like a team trying to get over an embarrassing loss to an inferior opponent.

The Wildcats came into the game with an 11-6 overall record and a 2-4 Big Ten record.

They had impressive overtime victories against the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Maryland Terapins, who, like the Wolverines, are top teams in the conference.

In the two-hour and 40-minute game, there were 19 lead changes, a flagrant foul, an ejection, and many replay reviews, which dragged the back-and-fourth snail fight in Ann Arbor.

Graduate student center Vladislav Goldin came into Sunday’s game as the Big Ten co-player of the week.

Last week, he averaged 27.5 points, seven rebounds, and 2.5 assists while shooting 76% from the floor.

Goldin scored 31 points, eight rebounds, and two assists while playing a career-high 37 minutes to lead his team to victory, but head coach Dusty May said that the big Russian had other qualities that impacted the game.

“Vlad has so many qualities,” said May. “His humility and care for other people; he’s a great teammate and a connector to all the groups, including the young guys to the old guys.”

Goldin was 10-12 from the free-throw line and showed range like last week.

The big Russian was a sniper from the three-point line, knocking down three of six beyond the arch.

But all everyone is talking about is how long it took for the game to reach its conclusion.

Replay reviews were conducted on every possession down the stretch and several earlier in the game, including one that resulted in an ejection: Wildcats guard Jalen Leach kicked Goldin in the groin while trying to run through a screen.

Goldin was called for a flagrant foul after he secured a rebound and swung his arms as the Wildcats defenders ran up to take a foul to stop the game clock.

There was even one time when Goldin grabbed a rebound with under 20 seconds to play in overtime and was fouled by Wildcats guard Blake Smith.

Smith’s head coach, Chris Collins, stepped onto the court and began exaggerating the swinging of his elbows while trying to get the referee to look at the potential contact that Goldin had connected with Smith’s head.

After another long review, Goldin was assessed a flagrant foul in addition to his foul, and Northwestern was allowed to keep the ball in a two-point game.

Both players split the pair, and the Wolverines eventually won the snail-fight of what was once a great game.

There were 68 free throws overall, with 14 resulting from fouls over the remaining 30 seconds and overtime.

But the slow start and staggering finish were due to their west coast trip.

The men in maize have 13 regular-season games remaining before the Purdue matchup, and they need to find a decent groove to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Purdue is coming off an upset loss to Ohio State, where they let a 16-point lead slip away during the home matchup.

The loss also snapped their 26-game winning streak inside Mackey Arena.

The Boilermakers will be inspired not to extend their home losing streak to two games, especially against a Wolverines team that has a 7-14 record at Mackey Arena since 1999.

And they’re losers of three straight and four of their last five matchups. But with upside guys like Goldin, Wolf, Tre Donaldson, Roddy Gayle, Nimari Burnett, and Will Tschetter, they’ll surely put up a Big Ten fight for a potential big-time game.