They did it.
The Michigan men’s basketball team at last captured a signature win, toppling a juggernaut in No. 3 Purdue on Thursday night.
In the victory, the Wolverines put up a stellar performance, holding the Boilermakers’ top-ranked offense to just 58 points and outsourcing them by 24. Michigan looked like a world-beater, ready to slay the next Goliath in its path.
One impressive win, though, isn’t enough. Not for a team that’s still a far cry away from a sure NCAA Tournament bid. Not for a team that has only just picked up its second Quadrant 1 win. Not for a team that has struggled against far less- talented squads.
No, the Wolverines need to turn it into more.
“We’re running out of games for the switch to turn,” sophomore center Hunter Dickinson said after Thursday’s win. “And so this was definitely a big win for us. This is one that we really needed. And hopefully, we can use this momentum to carry on to the last eight games of our season and into the Big Ten tournament.”
With seven out of its eight remaining games set to come against Quad 1 opportunities, Michigan has its chance to flip that switch. That starts with the sixteenth-ranked Buckeyes coming to town on Saturday.
Ohio State ranks sixth in offensive efficiency but 128th defensively in the country, making the Buckeyes a similar type of threat to Purdue. When hot, Ohio State can be near-impossible to stifle, attacking opposing teams from inside and out. When the Buckeyes’ opponents can’t keep up with their high-powered offensive attack, that’s when they fall by the wayside.
That offensive ability all starts with forward E.J. Liddell. The 6-foot-7 Big Ten Player of the Year candidate has it all — an ability to attack inside, a knack for creating downhill pressure and the shooting prowess to stretch the floor. Liddell is averaging 19.7 points on 51.9% from the field and 40.5% from deep; slowing him down will be the key to the Wolverines’ success.
On Thursday, Michigan was able to muffle the impact of Purdue’s Zach Edey and Trevion Williams — two of the premier bigs in the country — and now a similarly tall task awaits in Liddell.
“That’s what the Big Ten is,” Dickinson said. “There’s a lot of great big men that are strong. The Big Ten’s a really gritty league. If you want to play in the Big Ten, you gotta be tough or you’re not going to last too long.”
For the Wolverines to get it done against the Buckeyes, not only will they have to neutralize Liddell, but they’ll have to play their own game as well. Ohio State has enough contributors to be dangerous even with their Golden Gun repressed, and Michigan will need to capitalize on the offensive side of the ball.
The Wolverines don’t have to search hard to find the sort of performance that they need to replicate.
“I would bottle (that Purdue performance) up for every game,” Dickinson said. “I think it’s just players remaining confident in themselves. … Everybody just having confidence in themselves because we all believe in one another. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
If it can call back whatever was in that bottle, Michigan has an opportunity to put itself in the best place it’s been all season. Saturday’s matchup against Ohio State is its first opportunity to prove that it can.
It’s on the Wolverines to uncork it.
“We’re not in the best position that we could be in right now,” Dickinson said. “But I mean, shoot, everything we want is still in front of us. All the teams that are ahead of us we play. … so I think we control what the rest of the season looks like — it’s on us.”