We’ve reached the month of December and with the expanded conference schedule in the Big Ten, we’ve got a conference game on tap for Saturday as the Michigan Wolverines host the Purdue Boilermakers in the Crisler Center.
Both Big Ten teams come into action ranked with Purdue sitting at No.19 in the AP and Michigan ranking No.7. The home teams heads into this matchup with quite an edge as they look to rake up another win against a team that handed them a pair of losses a season ago.
Can a Purdue team in transition toppled Michigan in the Ann Arbor as they did a year ago or is it better to go with the chalk and take the reigning Big Ten Champion Wolverines? Michigan already got some revenge on Purdue in the Big Ten Championship game last year. They’ll look for more on Saturday in what should be one of the weekend’s most exciting contests loaded with live betting opportunities at BookMaker.eu.
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Purdue Boilermakers vs Michigan Wolverines
Date and Time: Saturday, December 1, 2018, 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Purdue vs. Wolverines TV Coverage: ESPN
Purdue had a great season last year, winning 30 games. They, however, lost Isaac Haas in the NCAA Tournament and eventually lost in the Sweet-16. Still, all in all, it was a very successful season.
The Boilermakers have gotten off to a rather strong start to this season as well, particularly considering the team lost all but one starter from last year’s team, retaining only Carsen Edwards.
Edwards was very good last year, but has taken his game up a notch on the young season, essentially putting the team on his shoulders and carrying them to a top-25 ranking here in the early going.
With 25.3 PPG, the junior guard is the key to this team on the outside while Evan Boudreaux has stepped up as the key figure inside. In just 18.8 minutes per game, Boudreaux has 11.2 PPG and 6.0 RPG.
Ryan Cline has stepped up to be a third big scorer for the team which has helped propel them to 85 PPG in their first six games. Cline himself has 14.3 PPG and has been perfect from the free throw line. Edwards and Cline have been the steady presences in the backcourt, both getting more than 30 minutes a game. The rest of the roster rotates a lot more, keeping the front court fresher.
Overall, Purdue has looked pretty solid early though the Boilermakers did fall to Virginia Tech a couple weeks ago. The Hokies shot 54.5-percent from the floor and had three players score at least 23 in the contest, winning in a shootout. The defense was bad in that game, giving up 89 despite having not allowed more than 75 points in any other game this year. Robert Morris scored just 46 last Friday.
On the other side of this contest, the Wolverines have one of the best defenses in the country. It was the defense that carried this team to the Final Four last year and that defense is showing itself again here in the early going.
Against Villanova in mid-November, Michigan allowed just 46 points in a dominating 73-46 payback win. The Wildcats were only able to shoot 31.8-percent from the floor while the Wolverines notched six blocks and 11 steals.
The Michigan defense is filthy, but the offense isn’t too bad either.
Freshman Ignas Brazdeikis has immediately stepped in to the starting lineup and is producing a team leading 15.7 PPG while serving as a strong blocker. Meanwhile, on the outside, Charles Matthews has 14.5 PPG. Matthews isn’t a great shooter, but he puts points on the board.
The shooting from three-point range is the major downside for Michigan, but the team’s good otherwise and doesn’t typically need to go off offensively due to the defensive strengths.
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Underneath the basket, this game boast an interesting matchup of two seven-foot tall centers in Michigan junior Jon Teske who stands 7’1” and Purdue sophomore Matt Haarms who stands at 7’3”.
Both are defense-first big men who will be charged with anchoring their respective defenses at the rim. With guys like Brazdeikis, Matthews, Edwards getting the bulk of the attention, it’s easy to overlook these two—despite their heights—but defense will be big in this game.
While there are some good shooters on these rosters, the game will be tight and come down to defense as was the case in two of the three meetings between these teams last year. Look for both big men to do their part in locking down the inside. Count on a lower scoring game in this one and be the spread and total, as well as all the live betting opportunities, at BookMaker.eu accordingly.
Key Player
Purdue lost four starters from last year with Edwards the lone returning starter. It seems like a bit of a cop out to dub him the key player in this one, but that’s the truth.
The Boilermakers’ offense is very centered on Edwards, arguably to a fault. That caused some issues in their loss to Virginia Tech, but ultimately they need Edwards to have a big game every game.
Through the team’s first six games, the junior guard has played over 30 minutes a game with 25.3 PPG and 4.2 APG. Those are some gaudy numbers. The team is scoring 85 PPG cumulatively so there are other scorers on the team like Cline and Boudreaux, but the offense still goes through Edwards, particularly on the outside.
Michigan will have to defend him heavily. Carsen Edwards led the team in scoring when Purdue beat Michigan in Ann Arbor last year, but he was just 4-for-16 from the floor when the Wolverines beat the Boilermakers in the Big Ten title game.
Boilermakers vs. Wolverines Live Betting
Michigan has had a more consistent start to their season than Purdue who, at times, have shown inconsistencies on offense for a team a little too reliant on Edwards. Defensively, the Wolverines are the stronger team as well with the Boilermakers prone to breakdown on coverages, leaving too many high-percentage shots up for grabs.
Count on the Michigan defense to stifle the Purdue offense for stretches, allowing the Wolverines to go on runs that’ll ultimately be the difference in this game. Michigan’s defense was the highlight of the team that made all the way to the NCAA Tournament final a season ago and looks to be a strength once again. Bank on that strength of that defense coupled with an offense that’s a bit underrated to be enough.
Purdue is still a good team and a tough match for Michigan, but this team topped Villanova on the road in a rematch. By comparison, a relatively young Boilermakers’ squad is a bit easier.
Check out all of the live betting at BookMaker.eu for Saturday’s college basketball action.
NCAA Basketball Score Prediction: Michigan 74, Purdue 68
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