Michigan-Purdue: Red-Hot Second Half Propels Wolverines to Upset Victory

You could walk into Crisler Arena on Thursday night and feel it. You could tell by the atmosphere in the gym that something special was going to happen. The vibe obviously reached the Michigan Basketball team.

The Wolverines (18-11, 8-8) needed a victory in a game that was absolutely critical to their NCAA tournament hopes. They were unable to come up with a big victory over lowly Iowa on Sunday, but on this night there would be no losing for Michigan.

The Wolverines pulled an unlikely 87-78 upset over the No. 16 Purdue Boilermakers (21-7, 10-5) who were battling to stay in the battle for the regular season Big Ten title.

Purdue had won four games in a row and were trailing the Michigan State Spartans by just a game in the conference standings, but on this night they could not put down the Wolverines tournament hopes.

The Boilermakers largest lead all night was just four points. They trailed for all of the final 26 minutes.

Neither team led by more than four points in the first half and the Wolverines held a 37-34 advantage at halftime.

The game remained close until Michigan went on a 19-6 run that was ignited by a sophomore Manny Harris with 10 minutes to go in the game. The Wolverines never looked back and extended their lead to as high as 16 points.

Harris and junior power forward DeShawn Sims willed their Wolverines to victory by combining for 56 points. Sims had a career high 29 points on 13-for-16 shooting while Harris put up 27 points and pulled down eight rebounds.

Purdue had no answer for Sims as their second leading scorer and top shot blocker JaJuan Johnson was only able to play 14 minutes due to foul trouble.

The Boilermakers were the top scoring defense in the Big Ten going into Thursday night’s game, but the Wolverines shot 81 percent in the second half and 63 percent for the entire game.

Michigan also held Purdue's leading scorer E'Twaun Moore to just one point in the first half. Moorefinished with 18 points on the night. Robbie Hummel led the Boilermakers with 24 points.

Also, Harris became just the sixth player in school history to score 1,000 career points by his sophomore year. He joined Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Phil Hubbard, Mike McGee, and Louis Bullock as the only other members of that category.

The Wolverines certainly helped their NCAA tournament chances with their victory on Thursday. Many believed Michigan blew their chance when they fell to Iowa on Sunday, but this victory gives the Wolverines a second chance to make a push for the tournament.

Michigan has won three of their last four, but has two road games against Minnesota and Wisconsin to finish the season. They play Wisconsin at the Kohls Center on Sunday.

The Wolverines could use a victory in either of their final two games to get into the big dance.

The Boilermakers have now fallen two games behind Michigan State in the conference standings with just three games left. Purdue takes on the 18-8 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday.

The Wolverines have bounced back from a school record 22 losses last year and have put themselves firmly on the NCAA bubble. However, as this season ends for Michigan they have had an improbable run and will be a tough team to beat in the NCAA or NIT tournament.