Live thread and updates as the Wolverines clash with the Boilermakers

Michigan men’s basketball travels to Mackey Arena for a pivotal clash with Purdue on Friday, Jan. 24. Tip-off from West Lafayette is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, and the game will air on FOX with Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson on the call.

The Boilermakers are two-time defending Big Ten champions and reached the NCAA Tournament championship game last April. Despite the loss of National Player of the Year Zach Edey, Matt Painter’s squad was the preseason pick to win the conference, with guard Braden Smith nominated as the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year. Friday’s game, and the return contest at Crisler Center on Feb. 11, could be deciding factors in the Big Ten race and for NCAA Tournament seeding.

Here’s what to know about Purdue: 

Purdue’s season so far

The Boilermakers are 15-5 (7-2 Big Ten), and they are ranked ninth in KenPom and 11th in the AP Top 25. After starting the season 7-1, including notable victories over Alabama and Ole Miss, Purdue lost three of four — at Penn State, and neutral court against Texas A&M and Auburn. They then won seven straight, including a 104-68 shellacking of Nebraska, before falling at home to Ohio State on Tuesday.

The 11 remaining conference games for the Boilermakers include a pair against Michigan and road games at Michigan State and Illinois.

KenPom projects Purdue to finish 22-9 overall (14-6 Big Ten), tied with Illinois and Michigan, and one game behind the Spartans in the conference standings.

Key factors for Michigan against Purdue

Use your size advantage: It’s unusual to enter a game against Purdue with a size advantage, but Michigan has it. The Boilermakers are 145th nationally in average height to Michigan’s 5th. Starting center Caleb Furst, a 6-foot-10 senior, is not much of an offensive threat. When Painter slides Trey Kaufman-Renn to the ‘5,’ that’s a four-inch advantage for Vlad Goldin. Purdue is an average rebounding team and has one of the lowest defensive block rates in the country. Kaufman-Renn does draw fouls at one of the highest rates in the country, so avoiding foul trouble among the frontcourt will be important. But size isn’t everything: As Vlad Goldin said earlier this year, smaller bigs with athleticism and experience — like Kaufman-Renn — do give him trouble defensively: “I don’t like guarding people like him — people who know their body. … It’s hard to guard people who know what they want to do,” Goldin said.

Be more disruptive on defense: This will be one of the biggest tests to date for the Michigan defense. Not only is Matt Painter an excellent coach, but his offense runs through Braden Smith, an experienced player and owner of the highest assist rate (46.8%) in the country. The Boilermakers aren’t a team that runs iso ball; they use a multitude of sets and move the ball effectively until they find an open shooter. This is an opportunity for Michigan’s bigger guards — 6-foot-5 Rubin Jones, 6-foot-5 Nimari Burnett — to use their length to clog passing lanes and force turnovers. U-M also has the ability to switch ‘1’ through ‘4’ and should be able to do so successfully against Purdue. If the Wolverines can effectively slow the Boilermakers’ pick and roll, it’ll force them to work harder for open shots.

Players to watch for Purdue against Michigan

Braden Smith: The Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year is playing to those expectations. He’s averaging 15.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 8.9 assists in his junior season. That follows a season in which he set a conference record with 292 assists while being the only player nationally to average 12.0 points, 7.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds. Smith is rarely going to attack a defender off the dribble, but he has excellent court awareness and a solid pull-up game. He doesn’t commit fouls and is elite when he gets to the free throw line. Aside from Kaufman-Renn, one of his biggest beneficiaries is Fletcher Loyer, who is shooting 46.3% on 3-pointers, of which nearly all (92.1%) are assisted.

Trey Kaufman-Renn: The 6-foot-9 junior is Purdue’s highest-usage player and has made the most of those opportunities, averaging 18.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 30.2 minutes. He’ll play the ‘4’ and the ‘5,’ and though he’s not much of a 3-point threat with just seven attempts this season, he’s shooting 77% at the rim. He’s also able to generate his own offense — 39% of his makes at the rim are unassisted, as are 43.9% of his other 2-pointers. He draws 6.2 fouls per 40 minutes, among the highest rates in the country, but makes free throws at just a 60.2% clip.

What Dusty May said about Purdue 

“Braden Smith, he’s a surgeon. His ability to make his teammates better, to make the right play. … He never looks tired. He never gets sped up. You rarely see him make even a solid decision; he makes good decisions repeatedly. He knows what he’s looking at. His ability to think the game and manipulate your defense. I could go on and on and on.”

Kaufman-Renn “looks like one of the best bigs in the country and one of the most efficient bigs in the country,” May said, and the Michigan coach is “blown away” by Loyer’s development throughout his career in West Lafayette.

“We’d better have our hand signals ready. We better be poised. We’d better meet every pass. We’d better have our fakes and footwork on point,” May said. “It’s as tough an environment as there is in the country to play in.”

Michigan vs. Purdue odds

KenPom lists Michigan as a four-point underdog, giving the visitors a 35% shot at pulling off the upset. Bart Torvik set the line at Purdue -3.2.

As of Friday morning, the sportsbooks say Purdue is 4.5-point favorites over Michigan with the over/under set at 151.5. 

How to watch Michigan vs. Purdue basketball

Who: No. 21 Michigan Wolverines at No. 11 Purdue Boilermakers

When: Friday, January 24 at 8:05 p.m. ET

Where: Mackey Arena (West Lafayette)

TV/Streaming: FOX | Gus Johnson (play-by-play) and Jim Jackson (analyst)

Radio: Learfield Michigan Sports Network

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