Michigan basketball could turn season around with upset of No. 1 Purdue

Let’s throw it back to last season. The Michigan basketball team was having an up and down season, struggled with consistency going on skids of one win and one loss and vise versa, even going on a three game losing streak and turning around with a three game win streak.

Can Michigan basketball repeat history?

On February 10th, the then 12-9 Wolverines hosted the 4th ranked, 21-3 Purdue Boilermakers at the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, just five days after the Boilermakers beat the Wolverines 82-76 in West Lafayette. Purdue was coming in on a four-game win streak while Michigan basketball was trading wins and losses for the last few games.

There wasn’t a ton of hope that the Wolverines were going to upset Boilers that night, yet somehow Michigan basketball steamrolled Purdue by 24 points en route to a 82-58 win.

Michigan finished the regular season on a “will they/won’t they” be good streak at 17-13, which was followed by an all-time collapse against Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan’s run to the Sweet Sixteen somehow covered up a mediocre 19-15 season. Now then, why does that matter for this iteration of the Wolverines? Well, frankly, Michigan basketball is once again having an up-and-down season.

2022-23 so far

Michigan started out on a three game win streak before getting absolutely ham blasted by Arizona State in the Champions Classic. The Wolverines then dropped heartbreakers to Virginia and Kentucky (lost starting PG Jaelin Llewellyn to a season ending injury in the Kentucky game) and dropped the final two non conference games to North Carolina, and sadly, Central Michigan.

Michigan started conference play without a Quad 1 victory, lucky for the Wolverines they started Big Ten play with a 3-0 record. After dropping a game vs. Michigan State, Michigan basketball blew a lead in the final minutes vs. Iowa and ended up losing in overtime and the Wolverines are once again on a win-loss-win-loss streak.

Although Michigan is 11-8, they are currently third in the Big Ten at 5-3; a win over the top-ranked Purdue Boilermakers would give Michigan a legitimate shot to win the Big Ten. I’m not saying that if Michigan wins Thursday that it’s a guarantee it’ll win the regular season championship, but it would change the feeling of the season entirely.

There is a lot more work to be done with this team. Frankly, the Wolverines go through stretches of basketball that is painful to watch. Questionable effort from upperclassmen and frustrating lineups that mess with Michigan’s in-game momentum are killers; however, a huge upset win over the nation’s No. team would be a good start to getting back on track.

Michigan basketball hosts No. 1 Purdue on Thursday night at 9:00 PM (EST) on ESPN.

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