Michigan Basketball: Tough stretch looms after brutal loss to Purdue
After the officials decided the end of Michigan basketball and Purdue, the Wolverines, who lost by one, don’t have time to sit around and mope.
For almost 40 minutes, the game between Michigan basketball and Purdue was a classic. Two very good teams going at it, on national television. What could be better?
But in the final seconds of a 69-69, the refs took the game out of the players hands and took it into their own. With six seconds left, Charles Matthews drove to the basket and had the ball knocked out. It seemed like it was going to be Michigan basketball.
However, after a lengthy review, it was given to Purdue. I get the ball looked like it was on Matthews hands, but if the guy didn’t hit it out of bounds, he hit Matthews on the hand, which should have meant two foul shots.
Instead, Purdue was given the ball and Moe Wagner was called for a cheap foul with four seconds left. Isaac Haas made 1-of-2 free throws and a desperation heave from Matthews fell short. The fifth-ranked Boilermakers escaped with a 70-69 win, one they didn’t necessarily earn.
Michigan head coach John Beilein had this to say to the Detroit Free Press following the game:
“I’ll wait to watch the video,” Beilein said of the call against Wagner. “I don’t know if those were good calls or not. I think that every official wants the players to play the game. He hopes that’s how he officiates. The players determine the game.”
Michigan Wolverines Basketball
While there was a lot of debate about how the game ended, there is no debate that’s a loss for Michigan. Now, the Wolverines have two choices. Then can sulk about it and get pounded by Michigan State Saturday or they can realize if they had scored in the last two minutes, they could have beaten the fifth-ranked team in the country.
One thing is for sure, the Wolverines are in a key stretch of their season and that goes well beyond Saturday’s showdown in East Lansing. After that game against the No. 4 Spartans, Michigan will host Maryland, travel to Nebraska, host Rutgers, play at Purdue, then return home to face Northwestern.
That’s how the January schedule closes and as you can see, it’s not easy. Rutgers at home should be a fairly simple win, but other than that, they are all toss-up games. Maryland is solid, so is Nebraska and Northwestern. And we already know how good Purdue and Michigan State are.
If the Wolverines go 3-3 in these next six games, they will be 6-5 in Big Ten play. Not a great mark, but also not bad. They would still be in solid NCAA position. Yet, if UM could go 4-2, they would be 7-4. The schedule also gets easier in February and March, so if the Wolverines can navigate this stretch, they should easily be in the upper echelon of the conference.
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The loss to Purdue was tough, but Michigan basketball can’t stress it too much. The Wolverines have a lot of important games to play and the truth is, they really can’t lose more than a couple if they want to be Big Ten contenders.