Michigan Basketball: 3 things we learned from win over Purdue

Michigan basketball smashed another ranked opponent in Purdue Saturday and here are three things we learned from the Wolverines win.

After dominating both North Carolina and Villanova early in the season, Michigan basketball is being talked about as one of the best teams in the country and after an impressive 76-57 win over Purdue Saturday, that kind of talk is going to keep on coming.

Just days after beating North Carolina, the No. 11 team in the country by 17 points, Michigan basketball had another big challenge on its hands and that was the 19th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers, who invaded Crisler Arena for the first Big Ten game of the season.

While many expected a tough game from Purdue, Michigan had other ideas. The Wolverines, who spotted North Carolina a 21-11 lead Wednesday night, weren’t about to do the same against the Boilermakers and Jordan Poole made sure it didn’t happen with his hot start from the 3-point line.

Poole hit a couple of treys within the first few minutes of the game, the second of which gave UM a 16-7 lead. He hit another at the 12:04 mark, which extended the UM advantage to 24-16.

That 3-pointer, which came with Michigan up five 21-16, sparked a 10-0 run that was capped by a Jon Teske dunk. At that point, the Wolverines led by 15 and at halftime, UM as in front 44-28.

In the second half, the lead hit 20 when a Zavier Simpson layup made it 60-40 in favor of the Wolverines. Purdue rallied and went on a 10-2 run that cut the lead to 12 at 62-50 with 6:59 to go.

However, over the final seven minutes, Purdue scored just seven points, while Michigan got two daggers, as Teske and Poole both hit from deep to make the score 70-50.

Poole led all scorers with 21 points. Teske added 17. For Purdue, Carsen Edwards scored 19, however, that was six points below his season average. He also made just 7-of-21 attempts. Purdue shot 35 percent from the field compared to 47 percent for Michigan.

All in all, it was a solid win for Michigan basketball and here are three things we learned.