Purdue Men's Basketball Looks to Climb the Rankings Against Michigan
The Purdue Boilermakers are set to face off against the Michigan Wolverines at Purdue on February 17th at 6:30 p.m. EST. Michigan is currently ranked first in the top 25, and Purdue is ranked seventh. In the Big Ten conference, the Wolverines are sitting atop the standings as the number one team, and the Boilermakers are currently tied for third with Nebraska, two and a half games back. Overall, Michigan is 24-1, with their only loss to Wisconsin, and in the Big Ten, they are 14-1. For Purdue, they are 21-4 overall and 11-3 in conference play. Of their four losses, only two can be considered respectable: Iowa State, ranked 10th, and Illinois, ranked 11th. The other two losses are ones the Boilermakers would like to have back: unranked Indiana and UCLA.
Purdue is currently on a four-game winning streak, including a game against another Big Ten opponent that went to overtime. The Boilermakers average 82.6 points, while teams average 68.6 points, so Purdue wins by an average 14-point margin. Braden Smith is leading the team in points with 14.7, assists with 8.9, and steals with 1.8. Although he leads the team in points, he is coming off a poor scoring performance against Iowa, with only five points on one-for-five shooting, but he did have a near double-double with 7 rebounds and 12 assists. If Purdue beats the number one-ranked team, they will surely move up in the rankings, maybe even sneaking into the top five.
The Wolverines are on an admirable 10-game winning streak, with two of those wins coming against the fifth-ranked Nebraska and the seventh-ranked Michigan State. The Wolverines are fifth in points per game, averaging an impressive 90.6, and opposing teams are averaging 68.3, an almost identical average to Purdue. Yaxel Lendenborg is leading the team in both points and rebounds, averaging 14.4 and 7.7. While he leads the team in points, he is a poor three-point shooter, shooting an ugly 29%. Michigan is coming off a huge point-differential win against UCLA, winning by 30 points, with four players scoring in double digits. The Wolverines are looking to carry this momentum into a matchup against a respectable, ranked opponent. According to ESPN analytics, it could be a close game, with Michigan only having a 52.2% chance to win.
