Juwan Howard explains adjustments made for second Purdue matchup

Five days after losing to Purdue on the road, Michigan defeated the Boilermakers at the Crisler Center to shake things up in the Big Ten. That’s quite a turnaround, and it means Juwan Howard and his staff made some good adjustments.

Just don’t expect him to tell you what exactly he did.

Michigan ran circles around Purdue en route to an 82-56 victory that ended with the Wolverines student section storming the court. All five Michigan starters scored in double figures while the Boilermakers shot 44% from the field — down from its average 50.5%.

Given the quick turnaround, it’s reasonable to see why Howard was asked about what adjustments he made. He, naturally, didn’t share much, but added his group could see Purdue again in Indianapolis at next month’s conference tournament.

“Really? You want me to tell you?” Howard joked with reporters. I’m not going to tell you, man.

“I’ll tell you this. The adjustments that we made, they were really good adjustments that helped to give us an edge and give us an opportunity to win the game. It’s good that some of the adjustments we made worked. Because we might see them again [at the] Big Ten Tournament. You just never know.”

Michigan shakes up Big Ten standings with upset victory over Purdue

Michigan rode a potent offensive attack and played staunch defense to upset No. 3 Purdue 82-56 at the Crisler Center Thursday night.

Each of Michigan’s starters scored in double figures. Hunter Dickinson led the charge for the Wolverines with 22 points and nine rebounds while Eli Brooks chipped in 18 points. Devante Jones notched a double-double in the effort with 11 points and 10 assists.

As a group, the Wolverines shot 51.6% from the field and 57.1% from three-point territory. On the defensive end, Purdue — which averaged 84.5 points per game coming in — scored its lowest point total of the year while being held to just 44% shooting from the floor. Still, Jaden Ivey had a strong scoring performance, dropping 18 points, but the Boilermakers didn’t have much more scoring.

Purdue was just the latest top-25 team to lose this week. Six top-10 teams — No. 1 Auburn, No. 3 Purdue, No. 6 Houston, No. 7 Duke, No. 8 Kansas and No. 9 Texas Tech — all lost this week, which means the AP Top 25 will likely look a little different next week.

The game had major implications in Friday’s NET rankings. Michigan jumped 17 spots to No. 30 while Purdue fell five spots to No. 9.

Michigan has eight games left before the Big Ten Tournament, starting with Ohio State Saturday afternoon. Purdue has five games to play before heading to Indianapolis and is getting ready to take on Maryland on Sunday.