Michigan basketball players disappointed by Purdue fans taking over: 'Felt like Mackey'

For just the second time since 1981-82, Michigan basketball has lost 20 games in a season.

The Wolverines (8-20, 3-14 Big Ten) fell 84-76 to No. 3 Purdue on Sunday afternoon, their 15th defeat in their past 17 games with three to play in the regular season. In a year where so much has gone wrong, the rock bottom moment had been hard to find.

Juwan Howard missed months after heart surgery, Dug McDaniel has missed away games for six weeks with a suspension, Olivier Nkamhoua underwent season-ending wrist surgery, Jace Howard missed months with a knee injury, Tray Jackson missed weeks with a concussion and broken nose, Will Tschetter and Terrance Williams II have both missed games with the flu and Jaelin Llewellyn missed the start of the year and various games throughout; he's been able to play just 17 of U-M's 28 contests.

The Wolverines have now lost five straight games, something they've now done three times this season. U-M lost to Long Beach State at home and by 32 at Purdue. Each of its past nine defeats before Sunday came by double figures.

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The Wolverines were even swept by rival MSU for the first time in five years. They'll miss the postseason entirely.

However, the worst moments of the year seemed to happen Sunday, and not on the court. Rather, in the stands, where thousands of Purdue fans made the trek north 250 miles from West Lafayette and took over Crisler Center with chants, cheers, and celebration.

Late in the first half, Purdue had runs of 8-0 and 11-2, both times chants of "Boiler up," or "Let's Go Boilers" took over. Later, when Purdue was shooting free throws to put the finishing touches on the game, a raucous back-and-forth of "Whose house-Our house" echoed throughout the gymnasium,

During his postgame press conference, Purdue coach Matt Painter said in his 19 years as Boilermakers head coach, he's never had so much support in an away venue in the Big Ten.

“I told our guys at halftime, 'This might never happen again,'" he said. "'So, give them something to cheer about.'"

U-M's head man said he didn't notice in the same way, but instead was, "so locked into coaching that. ... I did not hear, I was not focused on, you know, as far as what the fan participation was like for Purdue or for Michigan."

Still, Michigan players postgame had a different tune. His son, Jace Howard, scored a career-high eight points and called the situation "definitely unique" before he gave "kudos" to the Boilermakers fans who traveled to support the potential soon-to-be Big Ten Champions.

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Williams, who finished with 12 points, was even more direct.

"It’s definitely like a discussed factor," he said of the fan support or lack thereof. "You know, just playing a game, we're going to play on the court, but it felt like Mackey Arena, straight up.

"We go on road trips, you know, their fan base no matter what the record is, they will be all their fans and a little bit of Michigan fans. Today felt more like 75% Purdue fans, 25% Michigan."

'We're not having that great of a season'

Earlier this month, Michigan State fans made their presence known in Ann Arbor with chants of "Go Green-Go White," however, this was no rivalry game where mini-invasions are semi-frequent during seasons of this sort.

Michigan students are on spring break − Howard himself said he'd also love to be in Cabo, Turks & Caicos, the Bahamas, or Cancun as well if he were a student − but even the players know that's not the only reason there were more Purdue fans than Michigan ones.

"I haven’t really thought too much into it," Jace said. "Probably the spring break element, but let’s call it what it is, we’re not having a great season ourselves and that might impact the way the fans view it. But it’s not our job to really get into any of that, our job is to go out there and play and play to win.

"The ball’s still gonna bounce. ... I think we fought our asses off tonight, I’m really proud of our team."

His father, and coach, saw as much.

Michigan started hot from the floor, made 8 of its first 10 shots and got out to an early 22-15 lead when McDaniel, who had perhaps his best game of the calendar year with 19 points and six assists, found a streaking Tschetter, who made his first start of the season, for a layup.

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Then, Zach Edey did Zach Edey things. After two early misses, the 7-foot-4 "unicorn" made 13 of his next 14 shots from the floor en route to tying a season-high with 35 points and 15 rebounds.

Michigan's staff saw that consistent double teams this year hadn't been terribly effective in defending him, so it decided to mix up its defense and do everything possible could to stop him, going from zones, to man-defense, to the occasional double team.

But nothing even slowed Edey. Instead, he whittled away at the U-M depth, drawing 11 fouls in total on the afternoon. Tarris Reed Jr. made the game's first bucket, then went scoreless the rest of the way. He played just six minutes in the first half as he picked up three early fouls, then fouled out late in the second half.

Tschetter, who finished with 10 points, also fouled out in the second half while Jackson picked up four fouls.

"It definitely wasn't helpful for us, because obviously we were limited on bodies, but it's what comes with the game," Jace said. "I feel like you can't blame others besides yourself in those situations like, the refs didn't commit those fouls, we did."

Edey and the Boilermakers used that foul trouble to their advantage, as they were in the bonus less than nine minutes into the game, and ripped off an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the game. After trading blows, capped with a George Washington III three to go up 30-29, U-M allowed an 11-2 run which ended with an Edey layup to go up eight, 40-32

Just less than two minutes later, he added an and-1 to go up 11, Purdue's largest lead of the first half.

'That was disappointing'

Michigan never went quietly. As soon as Purdue got its lead out to 14 in the second half, Michigan chipped it back down to seven when McDaniel made a layup, then found Jace Howard on a fast-break push for one of his own.

Edey made consecutive layups, then after a Nimari Burnett jumper, made an and-1 down low to extend the lead back out to 12. He scored 11 points by himself in a 4:01 stretch of the second half, before he made three free throws to close out the game.

"I think we fought our asses off tonight," Jace Howard said. "I'm really proud of our team."

The coach's son scored a career-high on Sunday, while Jackson scored a career-high on Thursday. There's not one person inside the Wolverines' locker room who's had a truly enjoyable season on the court, but based solely on Sunday's performance, it wouldn't have been evident just how far apart the two teams truly are.

At this level, there are no moral victories. Unless it's a year of almost exclusively losses. Then, a few are allowed.

"What does not show up in the box score is heart," Howard said. "If they had that here as something that was in this box score, I think we would have won when it came to heart.

"I know you've heard this line before, but it's real. We're going to keep competing or die trying. That's how we operate here at Michigan. ... there's a sense of pride, a sense of toughness, and a level of competitiveness we're going to display each and every game."

"I really don’t got no message for real," Williams said. "They’re going to support us when we’re up, not going to support us when we’re down. I just hope that don’t happen again in the future, whenever I’m gone or whenever that situation arises.

"That was disappointing."

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball players disappointed by Purdue fans takeover