Five takeaways from Michigan’s 91-80 win at Purdue

Fresh off earning the No. 1 ranking, Michigan went into Mackey Arena to face No. 7 Purdue amid one of the most hostile environments in college basketball.

The Wolverines didn’t need much time to settle in — jumping out to a 20-point lead in the first half behind elite shooting and superior physicality, and sustaining that double-digit lead for most of the game.

Here are five takeaways from Michigan’s signature road victory over the Boilermakers:

Cadeau stays under control in Mackey

It seemed like nobody told junior guard Elliot Cadeau that Purdue has the best point guard in the country — or maybe someone did, and he took it personally. Either way, Cadeau did it all against the Boilermakers.

Cadeau’s most impactful sequence in the first half consisted of two possessions right before the under-12 media timeout. After junior center Aday Mara walled up Trey Kaufman-Renn to deny the bucket, Cadeau led the fast break and found graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg on the other end for an easy layup. On the other end of the floor, Cadeau grabbed a defensive rebound even with 7-foot-4 Daniel Jacobsen looming and hit Mara for an alley-oop dunk.

Those two plays extended Michigan’s lead from 12-11 to 16-11. They also kick-started the Wolverines’ 15-0 run, turning a game that was back-and-forth in the early minutes on its head.

“There was a lot of openings,” Cadeau said. “I felt like in the ball screen, there was a lot of openings. I felt I just had really talented teammates that, you know, if I get them going the right place, they’ll make the shot.”

And after going 1-for-6 from the field in the first half, Cadeau found his form in the second.

“I felt like I was being aggressive in the first half, the shots weren’t really just falling, and they started to fall in the second half,” Cadeau said. “So I felt like I had the same mindset in both halves.”

He scored pretty much every time he drove to the rim against the Boilermakers and hit two big threes to keep them at bay. Michigan needed a big game from Cadeau — and with 17 points, four rebounds and seven assists in 34 minutes, he delivered.