Matt Painter waves the white flag in the Big Ten title race against Michigan

If Purdue wanted to unseat Michigan for the regular season Big Ten title, its only chance was on Tuesday night in West Lafayette. Instead, Michigan rolled to 15-1 in conference play with a 91-80 win over the Boilermakers that forced Matt Painter to officially wave the white flag. 

Michigan has four Big Ten games remaining on its schedule, including a showdown with No. 10 Illinois, which is now second in the conference at 12-3, but Painter put it plainly after crossing blades with the No. 1 team in the country, “they ain’t losing four games. That’s just reality.” 

Matt Painter recognizes just how good Michigan is after Wovlerines win over Purdue

As Painter admitted postgame, Michigan dominated Purdue on the glass. Though the rebounding battle finished 39-31 in favor of the Wolverines, and Purdue managed to haul in one more offensive rebound by the time things went final at Mackey Arena, Michigan’s advantage was much larger, especially as it built a 48-32 halftime lead. 

Likewise, All-American point guard Braden Smith eventually got going, finishing with 20 points, but all 20 came in the second half. Michigan had Smith rattled early, cautious of probing the paint against 7-foot-4 Aday Mara and the rest of the Wolverines’ overwhelming size. 

Michigan isn’t unbeatable. Wisconsin proved that earlier in Big Ten play. If the Wolverines aren’t hitting from outside and Elliot Cadeau is turning the ball over, Dusty May’s team is vulnerable. But if Michigan plays like it did in the first half on Tuesday night, there may not be a team in the country that can match that level. 

While at least a share of the Big Ten is almost certainly wrapped up for Michigan after this win, Saturday’s non-conference showdown with Duke will be a useful measuring stick for the Wolverines heading into March. 

While Painter waved the white flag on the regular-season conference title race, the veteran head coach also acknowledged that it doesn’t matter until next month. “You know your final test is in the NCAA Tournament,” Painter said. “That’s the way I look at it. Sure, you want to win those games, but if we’d have won it, we wouldn’t have had a parade.” 

Michigan’s regular season has been fantastic and will likely be immortalized with the program’s first regular-season conference title under Dusty May and 16th all-time. But the year will be remembered as a disappointment if it isn’t capped with a deep March Madness run. That’s the brutal reality of a sport that decides its champion by a 68-team single-elimination tournament.