WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — We’re looking for a gym that can serve as a vivid example of how hard life can be on the road in college basketball. We’re looking for a building that is notoriously hostile, imposing... and loud. Really loud. A place that has been known to devour a visiting team’s shiny record and high ranking and rolling momentum in one gulp.
Any volunteers?
OK, the one waving its hand and beating the world’s largest drum on loan from its band. Yes, you Mackey Arena. You’re nothing but a circular shark tank. Friday was a big night for you. Your 500th Big Ten game. And just look at what you did to the poor Michigan Wolverines. Final of 91-64. Really?
New coach Dusty May and a rebooted roster had relit the fire in Ann Arbor. The program that went 8-24 last season arrived at Purdue 14-4. The Big Ten punching bag that was 3-17 in league play came in at 6-1. The four losses were by a combined eight points, one on a 40-foot Minnesota shot at the buzzer. Why pick on them? One minute, they’re among the game’s top stories of revival. The next, blood in the water.
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Since many of the Wolverines are new faces, they didn’t really know you, did they Mackey? Little Red Riding Hood carrying a basket to grandmother’s house. Except Dusty May, he knew. He’s an Indiana kid, was student manager and later worked on the basketball staff at IU, so he's been a Mackey guest. He had been warning his staff and team about Big Ten peril on the road. Particularly your end of the road.
“We have to be in one of the environments — I may have even said Mackey Arena — where you just don’t know how difficult it’s going to be until you feel it,” he would say later Friday night. “It felt different, there was a different level of energy, there was a different level of physicality."
You were up to no good, weren’t you Mackey?
After 55 seconds, the Wolverines already had two turnovers. After 3 ½ minutes, they had five, four off Purdue steals. By the 16:33 mark, the Boilermaker lead was already 11 points. At 11:18 mark, it was 20. Six minutes later it was 29.
“Many things went wrong,” Michigan center Vladislav Goldin would say afterward. “One careless turnover, the crowd goes crazy. A second turnover, and they’re just like chaos. We do have to be more mature when the crowd is loud, when the crowd goes crazy, we have to be more mature and stay poised and play even slower.”
The Wolverines came in averaging 84.6 points a game. Even in their three most recent losses, they had put up 81, 86 and 87. Friday it took them nine minutes to creep into double figures. It started out 29-9 and was 51-26 at halftime. By midway through the second half, Michigan had 15 field goals and Purdue had 13 steals.
This was Michigan. No. 21 in the Associated Press poll, No. 13 in the NET rankings, No. 12 in KenPom. Loser by 3, 1, 2 and 2 points. Beat Xavier by 25 and UCLA by 19. And the Wolverines were down 30.
Had Purdue not gone a slovenly 14-for-21 from the free throw line, it would have been even worse. The turnover margin was 22-6. Michigan finished with two more turnovers than field goals, six more than assists or fouls.
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You had a fun evening, didn’t you Mackey?
“Until you feel it... you couldn’t communicate, you couldn’t hear yourself,” May said. “Obviously that has an effect on athletics, on sports, basketball, whatever the case. It was more impressive than I thought but it’s been a long time since I’ve been in here. I’ve been on the wrong side of a few of these in this building and it’s not fun.”
You and your team had something to prove, didn’t you Mackey? Your numbers are staggering. Those first 499 Big Ten games? Purdue won 78 percent of them. Then there’s the 154-17 overall home record for the past 11 seasons. And the decibel level for the Alabama visit in November that hit 123.7 decibels, which was like standing only 300 yards away from a jet taking off.
But you ain’t perfect. Just the other day Ohio State gave you and the Boilermakers a 73-70 sucker punch. That took care of your 26-game homecourt streak. You hadn’t let a visiting team get out alive in nearly two years.
Dusty May’s first reaction when he saw that score? Oh-oh. “My gut said that’s not good for us,” he said, knowing any Purdue home defeat inspires reflection and refocusing for the Boilermakers. Playing for Purdue means never having to say you’re sorry to Mackey Arena.
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So the Boilermakers were anxious for atonement Friday, especially Braden Smith, the leader of the pack who went 3-for-14 against the Buckeyes and missed much of the first half with foul trouble. In his absence, Purdue was down 41-28 at halftime. “When Ohio State happened I was really upset about it. I felt like I let the team down. I felt like it was personally my fault,” Smith said. Thirteen seconds into Friday’s game, he stole a Michigan pass, turned it into an easy layup and the Boilermakers never looked back. Smith’s final handiwork: 24 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds. His teammates followed along.
“They had a different look that I had seen on film at times but (I’m) not surprised,” May said. “You’d better come in here with a hard hat on and a different mindset if you’re going to find a way to win.”
He understood that. Now his players do, too.
“It’s an environment where you have to bring the physicality and toughness and first punch,” guard Nimari Burnett said. “Especially on the road, at Purdue.”
Lots of places are hard on visiting teams, but you're right up there among the most merciless. You make a fine example of dangers of the road. So take a bow Mackey Arena, and happy anniversary. But now you really want to bring out the brass knuckles, don’t you?
Yep, Indiana will be in town next Friday night.
