Purdue fans rule Crisler, Michigan basketball buried by 'unicorn' Zach Edey's 35 points

When Purdue throttled Michigan basketball in a home game earlier this season by 32 points in West Lafayette, Indiana, it was demoralizing.

What happened Sunday afternoon in Ann Arbor, even though Purdue only won by eight points, felt — in some ways — as bad.

The Boilermakers and their fans turned Crisler Center into Mackey Arena North, alternating chants of "Boiler Up" with "Let's Go, Boilers!" during various runs, and though U-M never buckled, it had to withstand what felt like an away crowd in its own building at times, thanks to Michigan's spring break for students.

Purdue fans closed with a "Whose house? Our house!" chant with 20.3 seconds left, as Purdue sent U-M to its 15th loss in its past 17 games, 84-76.

Michigan (8-20, 3-14 Big Ten) has lost 20 games for the first time since 2007-08.

"I was so locked into coaching, I couldn't or didn't hear, or was not focused on as far as the fan and fan participation for Purdue or Michigan," head coach Juwan Howard said afterward. "All I recall was when we made two big runs, I heard the building loud for Michigan. ... I really applaud our fans for basically feeding life into our guys."

STILL FIGHTING: Michigan basketball, undermanned and struggling, but still fighting as Purdue looms

Michigan led by seven midway through the first half before Matt Painter's crew closed the final 10:37 of the opening period on a 32-14 run. The game was in danger of getting out of hand when Purdue opened its lead to 14 early in the second half, but a 19-12 U-M spurt got the Wolverines as close as seven points with 11:15 to play.

Michigan would get that close again when Jace Howard hit a free throw with 3:14 to play, then again when Nimari Burnett drilled a long ball with 1:49 to go, however, one man was too large to overcome in every sense: Zach Edey.

Well contained in the first meeting, the defending national player of the year was on another level entirely this time around. He had a career day and finished with a season-high 35 points and 15 rebounds as he drew nearly a dozen fouls (11 by the time it was all said and done) by himself.

"It’s hard, he’s a unicorn," Jace Howard said after the game of trying to defend him. "There’s not that many 7-4 guys with touch like that who can play the game that well and it makes it challenging but I mean it's college basketball, you're not going to just hold your head because you're (playing) someone who's good.

"You've got to survive or die, adapt or swim."

Though he didn't do all the damage by himself down the stretch − the game was all but sealed with a Mason Gills long ball with 2:10 to play to go up 10 − his impact all afternoon was more than sufficient. Edey missed his first two shots of the day from the floor then made 13 of his next 14, finishing 14-for-18 on the day.

The Wolverines did what they could to prepare for him during a two-day turnaround; even if their scout-team player who represented Edey was just 6-foot-6, but all game plans went out the window when foul trouble impacted the game early and often.

Will Tschetter fouled and Tarris Reed Jr. both fouled out while Jackson had four, as U-M "threw everything but the kitchen sink" to try and stop Edey, according to Juwan Howard.

The Wolverines were balanced offensively, led by McDaniel who scored 19 (his most since he scored a career-high 33 vs. Florida in late December), while Burnett scored 12, all in the second half, Terrance Williams II added 11, Tschetter and Tray Jackson each had 10 and Jace Howard scored eight, a career-high.

Not enough in closing stretch

Jackson made a 3-pointer to cut U-M's deficit to eight, 58-50, for the first time since the middle of the first half, when Edey began his dominant second-half stretch. He scored 11 of Purdue's next 14 points as he made all four shots during the process, the last of which came on an and-1 with 9:17 to play to put the Boilermakers up 12.

"We threw everything at Zach and his teammates," Juwan Howard said. "Zone, doubled, played one-on-one, man. But give Purdue credit, they're a great team and a well-coached team...(Edey) scored 35 points, he probably would have scored 35 on me too."

But U-M kept coming. Tschetter hit a long ball to get within single digits, then Burnett added consecutive buckets, before a pair of McDaniel layups got Michigan back within eight, 78-70, with 4:08 to play.

Reed fouled out moments later on a loose ball foul and McDaniel had to hold back Juwan Howard from running on the court. Gillis and Burnett exchanged long balls to make it 81-74, before Edey's free throws put Purdue up nine. Michigan would never get closer than seven again.

Michigan shot 48.3% (29 of 60) from the floor and 42.9% on 3-pointers (9-of-21), but was dominated down low by Edey and company as Purdue out-scored U-M in the paint (44-26) and on second-chance points (23-7).

"Absolutely, I do," Juwan Howard said when asked if he takes any solace in how much better his team performed this time than the first meeting. "Last time we played, it was no Dug (McDaniel), so we didn't have our point guard. This time it was no Olivier (Nkamhoua). So what we do? No matter who touched that floor and put that jersey on, they rolling up their sleeves to compete.

"Today was a day of heart and toughness that was displayed."

One-man wrecking crew

Edey had the Wolverines − already short-handed without Olivier Nkamhoua (out for the season, wrist surgery) and guard Jaelin Llewellyn who was listed as 'questionable' in the Big Ten availability report but did not play with "general knee soreness," per a team spokesman − in foul trouble from the get-go.

Reed picked up his first less than a minute into the game and his second four minutes in and he was forced to go to the bench.

Michigan seemingly couldn't get a stop without him and needed his presence later in the half, but he picked up his third foul just more than two minutes after checking back in, and he had to sit the final six minutes, (exactly as much as he played) of the opening portion.

Tschetter, who had to play when Reed was on the bench, picked up his fourth at the 17:32 mark of the second half and fouled out with 7:38 to play in the game. Meanwhile, Burnett played just eight minutes before the break and didn't record a single stat (other than a turnover) as he picked up three quick fouls.

Undermanned and overmatched, Michigan got off to another one of its patented fast starts.

Reed hit his lone shot of the half, McDaniel drilled a 3-pointer off a screen, Williams nailed a layup despite a foul and McDaniel hit another long ball. After Tschetter made a deep two of his own, Jackson added a dunk, Jace Howard made a jumper with his toe on the line and McDaniel made a slashing layup despite a foul on Edey, before giving the 7-foot-4 big man an extra stare.

The free throw made it 19-13 Michigan, as the Wolverines opened the game 8 of 10 from the floor and missed just one shot from the floor in a seven-minute span.

Purdue, meanwhile, started slowly. The Boilers hit just 5 of 18 shots to start, two of which were slams by Edey, and made only 1 of 7 long balls. When McDaniel threw a no-look, left-handed, under-hand outlet pass to Tschetter for an and-one layup, U-M took a 22-15 lead, before it all unraveled.

Purdue used an 8-0 run; an Edey turnaround, Camden Heide layup, Edey slam and then a Lance Jones offensive rebound and putback, to take its first lead of the game, before Jackson banked in a long ball to temporarily stem the tide.

The game would remain within two points each way for the next segment of the game, until the Wolverines took their final lead on a George Washington III 3-pointer from the right wing to go up 30-29 with 6:30 in the half.

From there, Purdue closed with an 18-6 stretch.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball has no answer for Zach Edey and Purdue, lose 84-76