Purdue basketball perseveres to check off victory at Michigan

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Nathan Baird on Purdue extending its winning streak while ending its losing streak at Michigan. Nathan Baird/Journal & Courier

ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Four stitches closed the bloody gash above Dakota Mathias' right eye on Tuesday night.

You can bet the Purdue senior had never felt better leaving Crisler Arena.

"Before the game, during the game, even after I just kept saying, 'Check this one off. Check it off,' " Mathias said after the No. 7 Boilermakers' 70-69 victory over Michigan. "We've got two more left to reach that goal."

Mathias refers to Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena and Illinois' State Farm Center — the other two Big ten Conference venues in which he and his fellow seniors have never won.

Neither of those challenges casts the same cloud as Tuesday's assignment. Mathias' turnover-inducing defensive play and Isaac Haas' game-winning free throw highlighted the final eight seconds of Purdue's first win in Ann Arbor since 2012.

True to the recent nature of this rivalry, those final eight seconds punctuated a second half of charges and responses. Purdue led by as many as much as 13 points early in the second half and trailed by four with under four minutes to play.

You had to go all the way back to Dec. 3, against Northwestern, to find a Purdue game that hung in the balance so late. You had to go back two days earlier than that to find such a scenario on the road, at Maryland. 

The Boilermakers built a 12-game winning streak mostly by storming out of the gates and rarely, if ever, losing the lead. 

They knew better than to expect a cakewalk in Ann Arbor. Purdue's flight home — delayed for de-icing in Michigan and diverted to Indianapolis due to fog in West Lafayette — carried something potentially more valuable than a "Tier 1" NCAA Tournament victory. 

With a hostile crowd stoking the momentum building in Michigan's favor, Purdue answered the way champions answer.

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The Boilermakers coach on the crucial final minutes of his team’s 12th straight victory. Nathan Baird/Journal & Courier

"We knew coming in it was going to be a battle and it was going to go both ways," said Carsen Edwards, whose 19 points included a pair of big 3-pointers down the stretch.

"We have veterans who have been through these types of games. There's still a lot of things we can learn from them."

The two biggest calls of the game unquestionably went Purdue's way, both in the final seconds. One, the contested loss of possession by Michigan's Charles Matthews with 6.2 seconds left, necessitated a video review.

Yet much of the second half belonged to Michigan — and not from expected sources.

Isaiah Livers scored 10 points off the bench in the second half, hitting a pair of 3-pointers during a stretch in which Michigan made 7 of 10. Zavier Simpson — a player Purdue recruited heavily — hit 3s on consecutive possession to push the Wolverines into the lead for the first time, 64-61, with 4:38 to play.

Simpson and Livers came in averaging a combined 9.2 points.

Michigan also totaled 31 points off of either Purdue turnovers or second-chance points. Those bugaboos have come and gone for the Boilermakers. Haas in particular lamented two failed box outs on free throws that resulted in 3-pointers for the Wolverines.

"That probably could have cost us the game, because it was a six-point swing," Haas said.

So the Boilermakers needed their own unsung heroes, and up stepped Nojel Eastern. Four times in a four-minute period, Michigan whittled Purdue's lead down to one point. On the final two occasions — at the end of a long stretch of offensive frustration for the Boilermakers — Eastern scored on offensive rebounds to muscle that lead back to three points.

Take away either and Purdue would be the latest cautionary tale of a highly ranked team that couldn't protect its newfound status.

Purdue coach Matt Painter wanted to prevent another dominant night from Michigan big man Moritz Wagner. He scored 24 to beat the Boilermakers in Crisler Center last season.

So Purdue did something it never does — it switched all five spots defensively with Haas in the game. While that left him vulnerable on certain switches, it also allowed the Boilermakers to better defend Wagner on the perimeter. He made only 1 of 4 from 3-point range.

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The senior center scored 17 points and hit the game-winning free throw with four seconds remaining. Nathan Baird/Journal & Courier

Purdue limited Wagner in the Big Ten Tournament last March, too. It didn't matter. Michigan made the championship plays down the stretch and won one two days later.

The Boilermakers flipped that outcome Tuesday night, and in the process, added further evidence it can do so again.

"We had to grind it out, but that's what good teams do; that's what top teams do," Mathias said. "That's what you have to do to win Big Ten championships — grind out games lie this.

"Even if you're up and they battle back, you have to punch back again."