Two weeks ago, the Michigan women’s basketball team suffered a 67-48 loss to the University of Detroit. But that home-court embarrassment — against a team that hadn’t beaten the Wolverines in 16 years — became a turning point for Michigan.
“That was probably one of our worst losses this year,” senior guard Veronica Hicks said after the game against Detroit. “It’s hard to swallow, but you kind of have to go through the trenches before you can get to the top.”
And that is exactly what the Wolverines have done.
Since the loss to Detroit, Michigan (2-0 Big Ten, 9-5 overall) has won three straight games — all against ranked opponents. The Wolverines have taken down No. 24 Boston College, No. 14 Iowa and the Big Ten frontrunner No. 12 Ohio State. Michigan has also gone 2-0 in Big Ten matchups, which puts it at the top of its conference.
The Wolverines will look to continue their momentum on the road against Purdue (0-2, 9-5) on Thursday. The Boilermakers are coming off two consecutive losses to conference rivals — Northwestern and Wisconsin — but have the home-court edge over Michigan. The Boilermakers are 7-2 at home this season and hold a 23-4 series record against the Wolverines in West Lafayette.
Purdue is led by junior guard Brittany Rayburn, who averages 16 points per game. Rayburn is an offensive powerhouse who recently scored her 1,000th career point and is the seventh highest scorer in the Big Ten. She led her team with a game-high 26 points in Purdue’s loss to Wisconsin, marking the fourth time this season that Rayburn has tallied more than 20 points in a game.
Freshman guard Courtney Moses complements Rayburn on the court, averaging 12.6 points and three assists per game. Moses earned her third consecutive and fourth overall Big Ten Freshman of the Week award after her 22-point performance against Northwestern.
Michigan coach Kevin Borseth has two main goals against Purdue: to hit shots down the stretch and to grab the key rebounds. Michigan struggled with these two components of its game early on in the season but has since shown improvement, which paid off in the Wolverines’ three wins against ranked opponents. The Wolverines have grabbed 34 or more rebounds in each of those three games.
Michigan could also continue to rely on the strength of its bench. Sophomore forward Sam Arnold has been a key bench player all season, tallying seven points and two rebounds per game, while only averaging 15 minutes of play.
Junior guard Courtney Boylan, who has seen little playing time this season, also made a prominent appearance on the court in Michigan’s most recent game against Iowa. Boylan tied her career-high with 18 points and had five rebounds and three steals in the game.
Having beaten two of the top three projected leaders in the Big Ten, the Wolverines have an opportunity to establish themselves in conference play with a win against Purdue. But Michigan is not allowing its recent success to hinder its main goals. Instead, the Wolverines are keeping a modest mindset and focusing on one game at a time.
“Right now, we are looking at Purdue and only Purdue,” sophomore guard Jenny Ryan said on Sunday. “But after that we will see what’s ahead of us.”