No. 22 Michigan held No. 20 Purdue to 22-of-65 shooting from the floor, and the Wolverines pulled away in the second half of their Big Ten tournament quarterfinal matchup on Friday in Indianapolis, 86-68.
After giving up the game’s first six points, Michigan (23-9), the tournament’s No. 3 seed, answered with a 12-0 run. The 2:50 spurt gave the Wolverines a lead they never relinquished.
Purdue (22-11) cut what had grown to a 15-point Michigan lead down to nine on a Gicarri Harris basket with 7:01 remaining in the second half. The Wolverines answered with a 7-0 run and held the Boilermakers scoreless for nearly three minutes to put the game away.
Michigan’s big-man duo of Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin led the way on both ends of the floor. Wolf scored a team-high 18 points, grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and matched Purdue guard Braden Smith with a game-high six assists.
Goldin added 15 points, eight rebounds and contributed to the Wolverines’ stingy defensive effort with a pair of blocked shots.
On the perimeter, Michigan coach Dusty May said before the Big Ten tournament that the Wolverines would need a big performance from Tre Donaldson. Donaldson responded on Friday with 3-of-8 shooting from 3-point range en route to 13 points, five assists and a pair of steals.
Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn led all scorers with 24 points, but faced physical defense from Michigan’s lengthy frontcourt. Kaufman-Renn shot only 9-of-24 from the floor and was forced into three of the Boilermakers’ five total turnovers.
Smith shot 5-of-18 from the floor, including 2-of-10 from 3-point range. The Purdue guard finished with 12 points.
No other Boilermakers scorer reached double-figures.
With the win, Michigan advances to Saturday’s semifinal to face Maryland. The second-seeded Terrapins routed No. 7 seed Illinois earlier on Friday, 88-65.
Maryland won the one regular-season matchup with Michigan, beating the Wolverines on the road on March 5, 71-65.
–Field Level Media
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