CHICAGO — The program that dethroned a historic Michigan team on Sunday is a reminder that the Big Ten tournament is hardly a forecast of NCAA tournament success.
“Winning it our freshman year, we thought it was pretty cool,” said Fletcher Loyer, Purdue’s all-time leading 3-point shooter, “but then obviously we lost to a 16 seed.”
Advertisement
It’s obvious because it’s unforgettable.
Five days after hoisting Big Ten hardware, the Boilermakers became the second men’s team to ever fall to a No. 16 seed in March Madness in 2023. Fairleigh Dickinson was David, and Purdue was Goliath. Without a player taller than 6-foot-6 taking the court, FDU slayed Purdue and its giant, Zach Edey, a 7-foot-3 consensus National Player of the Year.
[Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem: Make your picks for $50K in total prizes]
That jaw-dropping defeat left a mark that’s since scarred. With distance from it and perspective gained from a prolific four-year career, Loyer reflected at his locker while processing his second Big Ten tournament title.
Advertisement
Wearing a championship hat sideways, with a piece of a cut-down net dangling by his calm eyes, he admitted that the year after that fateful loss to FDU, the Boilermakers “didn’t care at all” about the conference tourney.
“We won the regular season, that’s what we wanted to do, but ultimately we wanted to get back to the NCAA tournament. Last year, once again, it was not on our mind at all. We were ready for the NCAA tournament,” he said.
The senior guard added: “But this year having not had the regular season we wanted to have and the young guys having not won the Big Ten, it was our main goal to come here and win.”
In four days, Purdue went from being the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten tournament to becoming a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Boilermakers used the Big Ten tourney as a rallying cry.
Advertisement
Michigan, denied its second straight title in the event, will now use it as motivation.
‘It definitely fuels us to make sure that we never lose again’
The Big Ten is a gauntlet, today more than ever. Equipped with 18 teams — half of whom are headed to the dance — the league is loaded with talent.
It’s also known for its physicality, which Michigan embodied this season. With 6-foot-9 Yaxel Lendeborg, the Big Ten Player of the Year, 7-foot-3 Aday Mara, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and 6-foot-9 Morez Johnson Jr., also a top-three leading scorer on a 31-3 team, the Wolverines bullied most of their conference competition.
Advertisement
In fact, they logged double-digit victories against 14 different Big Ten opponents this season. They joined Bob Knight’s undefeated 1975-76 Indiana squad as the only teams in league history to win all of their Big Ten road games.
Michigan went 19-1 overall in conference play, setting a single-season Big Ten record for league wins. The maize and blue rattled off 15 straight conference victories to close out the regular season.
In each of the Wolverines’ three conference tournament games, however, they looked vulnerable. With five minutes to go in the quarterfinals, rival Ohio State held a narrow lead over Michigan. In the semifinals against Wisconsin, the Wolverines needed a tie-breaking 3 from Lendeborg to dodge overtime and book their ticket to the final.
Big Ten Coach of the Year Dusty May and Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg look on during a conference tournament final defeat to Purdue at Chicago’s United Center on March 15. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
(Michael Reaves via Getty Images)
And with the championship on the line, Purdue gave Michigan a taste of its own medicine. Avenging a midseason defeat that saw the Wolverines ride a 16-0 first-half run to victory, the Boilermakers outscored Michigan 22-8 to start the second half en route to their second conference tournament title in four years.
Advertisement
“Kind of humbling us a little bit and just showing us that we’re not untouchable and people can be in games with us,” Michigan point guard Elliot Cadeau said postgame, when pinpointing his takeaway from the past three days in Chicago.
“People can force one-possession games. People could beat us by almost double digits and just having us just come out and play harder.”
Purdue matched and actually exceeded Michigan’s physicality on Sunday in a game that left Lendeborg with a dinged-up left ankle. He said he’ll be fine.
What he emphasized in the locker room was his Wolverines needing to do a better job setting the tone, particularly in the second half. That’s when seasoned Boilermakers point guard Braden Smith diced Michigan’s defense with pocket passes that set up forward Trey Kaufman-Renn for repeated floaters.
Advertisement
Cadeau and Lendeborg are coming off just their third losses with the Wolverines. Both joined the program last year, with Cadeau transferring from North Carolina and Lendeborg coming from UAB.
“We’re not used to this,” an often transparent Lendeborg said, referring to the 2025-26 Wolverines.
“It’s something that we all don’t like. So it definitely fuels us to make sure that we never lose again and realize and reflect on why we lost.”
Can Michigan still win it all?
Roddy Gayle Jr. has embraced a role off the bench as part of Michigan’s supporting cast in the final year of a career that began, of all places, at Ohio State.
Advertisement
He knows the Big Ten like the back of his hand. When asked to diagnose why Michigan hasn’t been as dominant of late, he explained that it’s natural for other teams in the conference to get comfortable in their system and with league opponents’ tendencies.
Additionally, Gayle conceded that missing sophomore guard L.J. Cason hurts. Cason, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear against Illinois on Feb. 27, was typically “able to go and get us one” on the offensive end, Gayle said.
Gayle stressed the importance of ball movement from here on out, plus rebounding efficiency and defending the way the Wolverines did to start the year.
They remain first nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom, but they’re notably forcing just 7.9 turnovers per game since the start of February. For reference, Michigan’s opponents were giving up the ball 12.2 times per contest before that point.
Advertisement
Their size, though, and specifically the rim protection Mara provides, consistently wreaks havoc.
“The way they guard is unlike any defense I’ve seen in the country,” Purdue’s Loyer said on Sunday. “Just their ability to cause problems and go on big runs is what makes them so special.”
Dusty May, the Big Ten Coach of the Year, spoke to reporters in the bowels of the United Center after the loss to the Boilermakers and the Selection Show, which revealed that Michigan, nevertheless, is the top seed in the Midwest region.
May talked about his team flushing the defeat and returning to the best version of itself. Michigan will have to follow through on that if it’s to become the first Big Ten men’s basketball team to win a national title since Tom Izzo’s Michigan State in 2000.
Advertisement
“Coach May is always a ‘what’s next’ kind of guy,” Gayle said.
Fortunately for the Wolverines, what’s next is a quadrant in the NCAA tournament that doesn’t feature another Big Ten team.
May took the Wolverines to the Sweet 16 after winning last year’s Big Ten tournament. He told Detroit’s 94.7 WCSX on Monday that he believes it’s easier to create flow in March Madness than it is in Big Ten play.
“There’s typically much more freedom of movement,” said May, who emerged as a household name after leading Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2023.
Advertisement
“The Big Ten teams, look, we know each other really well. We know what each other’s going to do. And so the teams are able to get you into that quicksand that has an advantage. We’re optimistic that it’s going to loosen up a little bit in the tournament. We’ll be able to find better flow, much like we were able to do pre-conference this year.”
That “pre-conference” stretch consisted of a slew of blowout victories, including a 40-point win over a Gonzaga team that’s now a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, as well as 40-point and 30-point victories over San Diego State and Auburn squads that wound up on the bubble.
“A basketball season’s not a graph,” May told reporters Sunday. “Where was Purdue four days ago? Where are they today?”
The Big Ten tournament can be a springboard. It can also be a false indicator. It is what a team makes of it. And, in that way, Michigan’s setback to Purdue could be a blessing in disguise.
