Head coach Dusty May previews ‘extremely big’ rematch with Purdue

Michigan men’s basketball has won four games in a row since falling to Purdue 91-64 on Jan. 24. The Wolverines are tied with the Boilermakers for second in the Big Ten, and both sit a half-game behind Michigan State. One team will move up to a tie for first place with the Spartans, and the other will have sole possession of second.

“We’re excited to be in position for this to be an extremely big game with Purdue coming into Crisler (Center) tomorrow,” head coach Dusty May said at a press conference Monday. “(I) challenge our fans to bring the energy, enthusiasm, and to create and continue to build on a home court environment that we continue to create.”

Michigan men’s basketball readies for rematch with Purdue

Simply put, nothing seemed to go right for Michigan when it visited the Boilermakers a few weeks ago. The Wolverines shot 37 percent from the field and 20.7 percent from deep. They turned the ball over 22 times, and only one player scored more than 11 points (Vlad Goldin – 14). 

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May said the team is focused on what they can control heading into the rematch.

“We don’t use the word revenge, but we have to play much better basketball,” May said. “We need to make some adjustments schematically, but more importantly (with) our mindset. That was a tough night. They deserved to win how they did and I thought we deserved the result that we got that night. 

“… It’s part of the process. That night, a lot didn’t go right for us. A lot went wrong, but Purdue caused most of it, so it’s going to be a tough game but we’re excited to go out and compete.”

A wrinkle in the second matchup will be the addition of Rubin Jones to the starting lineup. He replaced fellow guard Nimari Burnett against Indiana first.

“I thought Rubin Jones made a lot of really nice complementary plays,” May said. “When you look at our baskets, and when you go back and just isolate our good possessions, I thought he had a real key role in all of them. Whether it was screening, a quick swing, whatever the case, he seemed to just function well, especially the first few minutes of the game.”

Unphased

Michigan’s past four wins have come by a combined 14 points. Although they haven’t been resounding wins, they’ve shown this Wolverines team has resilience. May said sometimes you have to walk through the fire to get comfortable in the heat.

“Until you’ve lived it, until you’ve experienced it, you can talk about it all you want,” May said. “… Indiana ties the game (after) the four minute media timeout, (the clock) is three and some change, and we come out of the timeout and go on a 4-0 run.

“In that environment, as loud as it was, I’m not sure that without the Purdue experience we handle it as (well). I mean we were unphased.”

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Michigan and Purdue will tip-off on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on Peacock.

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