Opening Odds and Game Preview - #3 Purdue at Michigan

Well, well, we’re back here again. It was just six days ago that #3 Purdue hosted the Michigan Wolverines at Mackey Arena.

It was an important game for both teams. Michigan is struggling to collect wins with just a 12-9 record at the moment. They are on the wrong side of the bubble staring at a whole lot of tough games ahead of them. Those games are gonna need to be opportunities and wins if Juwan Howard is gonna get his Wolverines back into the NCAA tournament this season.

For #3 Purdue they were fighting off a perception of frailty, of being a paper tiger. Purdue has the best offense in the country. They have a top-five pick. They have two giant centers. But they also had a problem. They’d lead and dominate for whole games just to collapse at the end. Against Rutgers. Against Wisconsin. Against Indiana.

Narrowly beating an over matched Michigan team at home probably didn’t sway many pundits, but it might have unlocked what will.

Jaden Ivey. High pick and roll.

Coach Howard was task with trying to stop the best offense in the country. He had a big in the post that could almost, just almost contain Edey. He decided to help his big by going match up zone on the perimeter.

Coach Painter’s counter was to extend the offense. Spread the floor with shooters. Bring his gigantic Edey and all his 7’4 screening body up to Ivey’s side of the floor and letting Ivey attack, control, and take over the game. Again and again and again.

Ivey had 23 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds.

Purdue already had one of the best offenses in the history of college basketball. Now? Now they have a whole new gear. Ivey’s ability to control the half court to go along with his absolute domination in transition has Purdue as the second most efficient offense in the KenPom era. He’s not just scoring, but dissecting defenses, using his unmatched athleticism with a pace that locks in multiple defenders and opens up the court for his teammates who can all score from everywhere else on the court. When he doesn’t feel like passing, he just makes ridiculous shots up and around and through defenders.

Ivey has announced himself, and Purdue in the process. Purdue is one of the nation’s elite teams, a national title contender, a Final Four favorite. And Ivey, he’s a real National Player of the Year candidate, and maybe the most dangerous player in the country with the ball in his hand on his way to March Madness.

For Michigan, this is the chance for their best win of the season. A check they can cash to get into the tournament. They’ll need Dickinson to be every bit as good as he was in the first match up when he scored 28 points on 14 shots. They might even need more.

Michigan’s guards were over matched by Purdue shot making, but made it closer than it probably should have been in Mackey. Is Michigan’s home crowd enough to push them the rest of the way or did something awaken in Purdue that’s made them an entirely new version of themselves in just six days.

You expect your entire season to change in six days in March, but for these two programs leaning in different ways, this six day rematch might be just as definitive.