Michigan Slated for West Lafayette Trip to Take on No. 3 Purdue

» Michigan and Purdue will meet for the second time in the regular season.
» Earlier this season, the Boilermakers hit a late free throw to escape Crisler Center with a 70-69 win.
» The Boilermakers have won their last 15 games and are a perfect 12-0 at Mackey Arena.
» Last time out, Duncan Robinson led U-M in its rebound victory over Rutgers. Coming off the bench, he knocked down four triples for 12 points while grabbing five rebounds and dishing a season-best four assists.

THIS WEEK
Thursday, Jan. 25 -- at #3/3 Purdue (West Lafayette, Ind.), 7 p.m.

The No. 25-ranked University of Michigan men's basketball team (17-5, 6-3 B1G) heads to West Lafayette, Indiana, Thursday (Jan. 25) for its second regular-season match-up with No. 3/3 Purdue (19-2, 8-0 B1G), which has won its last 15 games. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. with the game broadcast on ESPN.

THE SERIES WITH PURDUE
• Tonight's game marks the 158th all-time meeting between Michigan and Purdue.
• U-M trails in the overall series, 88-69. Over the last 10 meetings, the Wolverines have a 6-4 mark against the Boilermakers.
• Tonight's game is the second of the regular season between the teams. The then-No. 5/7 Boilermakers avoided the upset in Crisler Center with a 70-69 victory after Isaac Haas hit a free throw with four seconds left.
• Michigan has a 24-53 record in West Lafayette. Michigan's last win at Purdue was in 2014, when Glenn Robinson III's inbounds catch and putback in overtime helped U-M to its third straight victory in Mackey Arena, 77-76. Since that spectacular play, the Wolverines have dropped their last two -- 64-51 in 2015 and 87-70 in 2016.
• U-M head coach John Beilein is 9-10 against Purdue. After starting 2-6 against the Boilermakers, Beilein and his Wolverines have won seven of the last 11 meetings.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE BOILERMAKERS
• No. 3/3 Purdue is riding a 15-game winning streak heading into tonight's game.
• The Boilermakers' only losses of the season were in back-to-back games in the Battle 4 Atlantis -- a 78-58 overtime setback vs. Tennessee and a 77-73 loss to Western Kentucky.
• Other than those two setbacks -- just over two months ago (63 days) -- Purdue has won by an average of 22.6 per game this season.
• Purdue is shooting 50.3 percent from the field and 43.7 percent from long range while holding its opponents to just 37.7 percent from the floor and 31.8 percent from deep.
• A veteran Big Ten squad, Purdue's offense features four double-figure scorers. Sophomore guard Carsen Edwards leads with 17.2 points per game, while senior forward Vincent Edwards (14.9), senior forward Isaac Haas (13.6) and senior guard Dakota Mathias (12.7) are just behind. The group makes up almost 68 percent of Purdue's point production.
• Mathias (54), Edwards (51) and senior guard P.J. Thompson (42) have combined for 147 of Purdue's 220 three-pointers (66 percent).

EARLIER THIS SEASON
• After trailing No. 5/7 Purdue by as many as 14 points and for the first 35:30 of the game, Michigan fought back to tie the game and eventually take the lead but ultimately fell short of the Boilermakers in a 70-69 setback.
• With the game tied at 69-69 with just over two minutes left, the two Big Ten teams could not find the winning touch. After a long review of an out-of-bounds play, the call reversed a U-M possession, giving the ball to Purdue.
• After a U-M foul to stop the clock, another foul called with four second left sent Purdue's Isaac Haas to the line. He made one of two free throws, and after Charles Matthews last-second shot rattled in and out, the Boilermakers escaped with the win.
• The Wolverines had four players score in double figures -- Zavier Simpson (15), Matthews (14), Moritz Wagner (11) and Isaiah Livers (10).

WOLVERINE TIDBITS
• After playing eight games in 22 days, Michigan plays only one game this week. In fact, the Wolverines will play just three games over 13 days since the win over Rutgers.
• Michigan and Purdue are both celebrating the 50th anniversaries of their respective home arenas -- Crisler Center and Mackey Arena.
• Earlier this season, Michigan knocked of No. 4/4 Michigan State at the Breslin Center, 82-72. It was the first top five victory for the Maize and Blue since defeating No. 3/3 Maryland, 77-67, on Jan. 12, 2016 at Crisler Center.
• Isaiah Livers has started the last four games, as Duncan Robinson moved back to the bench as U-M's sixth man.
• Robinson led U-M in its rebound victory over Rutgers. Coming off the bench, he knocked down four triples for 12 points while grabbing five rebounds and dishing a season-best four assists -- the most for him in 33 games.
• Robinson's four triples helped him become the ninth Wolverine to surpass 200 in a career. He is tied for eighth with Tim Hardaway Jr. with 202. He needs three more to move into seventh (Stu Douglass).
• Zavier Simpson set yet another career best this season by posting a career-high eight rebounds against Rutgers. It was just the third time in his career he had more than five in a game -- six against No. 5/7 Purdue and five vs. Detroit Mercy.
• Simpson's eight boards are the most for a U-M guard since Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman had 10 in the road win at Texas.

SOME INTERESTING MICHIGAN POINTS
• U-M coach John Beilein has always wanted to have multiple players distributing the ball. So far this season he has three Wolverines with 60-plus assists -- Zavier Simpson (77), Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (70) and Matthews (63). The last time U-M had three with 100-plus assists in a season was in 2013-14 -- Nik Stauskas (118), Caris LeVert (109) and Derrick Walton Jr. (106) -- all of whom are currently in the NBA.
• As with most Beilein-coached teams, the three-pointer is a featured scoring component. So far this season nearly 42 percent of U-M's offense has come via the long-range shot, and Michigan is 20th nationall with 551 three-point attempts. U-M has made eight or more three-pointers in 17 of 22 games.
• The Wolverines have 11 games with 10 or more three-pointers and carry a 9-2 record when reaching the feat. So far, U-M has a season-high 15, twice -- vs. Chaminade and Alabama A&M.
• Flipping the stat line, U-M's opponents are averaging just 5.4 three-pointers per game. In the first four games, the Wolverines gave up 32 triples (8.0 per game); however, they have buckled down on the perimeter and are allowing 4.8 per game since. U-M has held an opponent to five or fewer triples in 14 games, including a season-low two twice -- by Indiana and Rutgers.
• With more defensive intensity stressed this season, U-M already has 143 steals -- 6.5 per game -- with seven Wolverines collecting 10 or more swipes already. The highest team total with Beilein at U-M was 239 during the 2012-13 season (39 games, 6.1 spg).