Michigan Basketball: 3 takeaways from the pasting of Purdue

Michigan basketball brought it to the third-ranked team in the country and never let up in the outright destruction of a national contender.

Juwan Howard’s group needed a marquee win and that’s exactly what the Wolverines got on Thursday night in Crisler. They absolutely clobbered a Purdue bunch that was coming off one of their most notable wins of the season on Tuesday. It is Michigan basketball‘s largest margin of victory over a top-five club since way back in 1987 and the fans stormed the court afterward.

Here are the three takeaways from the most significant win of the year.

1. This was the Michigan squad everyone expected them to be

It may have taken a lot longer than anyone would have wanted, but this is the Michigan basketball crew that people anticipated being before the season commenced. Their attack was relentless from the tip forcing Purdue to play catch up all night long. Their biggest lead of the contest ballooned all the way up to 29.

It sure is a far cry from where they were back in November. Nonetheless, Michigan has to take it any way that they can get it while living on the tournament bubble. It’s a defining victory for a group that so desperately needed one.

It is without hesitation Michigan’s most dynamic performance of the season. It shows that the Wolverines can hang with the big boys and have what it takes to be included in the big dance. Maybe this will be the moment where Michigan maximizes its full potential and makes a run into April.