PREVIEW: MICHIGAN VS PURDUE

PURDUE VS MICHIGAN GAME NOTES

 Purdue will look for its second-straight win at Michigan when it faces the second-ranked Wolverines tonight.  The Boilermakers have won three straight. The last time an unranked Purdue team took down a top-five opponent on its home floor was back on Jan. 20, 1979, when the Boilermakers defeated 4^th ranked Illinois, 69-57, in Champaign. Since opening his Purdue head coaching career with 17-consecutive road losses,Matt Painter has guided the Boilermakers to a 35-26 record in their last 61 games on opponents' home floors. Purdue is coming off of a 79-52 victory over West Virginia and now the Boilermakers have won six of its last eight games.

The Boilers have allowed opponents to shoot just 29.7 percent from the field and 22.5 percent from the arc in their three victories. Senior DJ Byrd reeled off a game-high 17 points on 4-of-6 three point shooting against West Virginia. Byrd has now scored in double figures in five of Purdue's last six games, shooting 47.5 percent from three point range.  Center AJ Hammons is one of just two freshmen in the power six conferences,  with averages of at least 10 points, six rebounds and two blocks per game.  Hammons leads Purdue in rebounding at 6.3 per game, 2.1 blocks per game, and is third on the team at 10.3 points per game.  Hammons also leads the Big Ten with an average of 3.4 blocks per game in Big Ten play, piling up 17 in five games.  Terrone Johnson leads Purdue in scoring at 15.4 points per game in the Big Ten.

Purdue ranks second in the Big Ten with an average of 13.6 offensive rebounds per game with Hammons ranked third in the league with 3.2 offensive boards per game in the Big Ten.   The Boilers have scored 258 of their 470 points (54.9 percent) over their last seven games inside and Purdue is averaging 32.9 points per game in the paint and outscoring opponents by an average of 7.8 points per game inside.  After shooting just 27.1 percent from three-point range prior to conference play, Purdue has shot 37.7 percent from the arc in five Big Ten games; Byrd is firing at a rate of 44.1 percent (15-of-34) in conference action and ranks second in the league with an average of 3.0 triples per game.

 Starters for Purdue

DJ Byrd 10.4 ppg

Rapheal Davis 5.6 ppg

AJ Hammons 10.3 ppg

Ronnie Johnson 9.1 ppg

Terone Johnson 13.3 ppg

Starters for Michigan

Glen Robinson III  12.1 ppg

Jordan Morgan 6.8 ppg

Nik Stauskas 12.6 ppg

Tim Hardaway Jr. 16.4 ppg

Trey Burke 18.0 ppg