Michigan

Purdue basketball left the door open, and Michigan walked through and took the Big Ten lead

Published

1 year ago

February 12, 2025

Press Room

Purdue basketball left the door open, and Michigan walked through and took the Big Ten lead

Braden Smith got he wanted on the last possession of the game, but couldn’t create magic in Michigan.
Yes, Purdue acknowledged the foul discrepancy, but turned criticism inward for a loss it could have avoided.
Purdue’s big three was efficient, but it didn’t get enough help.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Purdue basketball’s Braden Smith asked for charity when Michigan’s Danny Wolf stepped to the charity stripe with a chance to ice a victory Tuesday night.

The Boilermakers trailed by two with six seconds remaining. They needed help, so what’s the harm in asking for some?

“I said, ‘Give us one, just one,’ and he did,” Smith said of Wolf missing the front end of his double-bonus opportunity. “And then I said ‘Uh oh, if he gives us another one I’m going to go down and make it.’”

Wolf obliged by missing the second as well. It left him a desperation running heave off one foot from 25 feet — one he said he made consistently shoot around. When it sailed wide of the rim, the Wolverines had a 75-73 victory and sole possession of the Big Ten Conference lead.

Whether that stands up as the decisive margin in the league championship race will be decided over a frantic final few weeks. Michigan State could also have jumped over the Boilermakers into a tie for first. Indiana, with a lame duck coach and a season long since having spiraled out of control, stunned the Spartans 71-67 in East Lansing.

Purdue could not make enough championship plays. If it summons a championship response, it may still control its own destiny.

Fortunes flip quickly in the Big Ten. Ask the Spartans, who 10 days earlier were undefeated in league play. They’ve lost three of four now and must play at Illinois this weekend before Purdue visits the Breslin Center on Tuesday.

This Boilermaker home-and-home with Michigan provided its own testimony.

Purdue ran the Wolverines out of Mackey Arena only 18 days earlier. It forced 22 turnovers — nearly four times as many as it committed. Held them to 6 of 29 3-point shooting and 0.90 points per possession. Built a 30-point lead with under four minutes to play and made a statement: The Big Ten championship still comes through West Lafayette.

The chances of those conditions repeating Tuesday seemed unlikely at best. Teams generally play better at home. Calls tend to go their way.

Home cooking? Perhaps. Ask around the Big Ten and you’ll find plenty of players who say they had their fill of that meal at Mackey Arena.

“That’s something you’ve got to live with,” Furst said. “That’s life on the road. We knew that coming in — and especially in a game like this, going against a team of this caliber.”

Trey Kaufman-Renn remains puzzled by the foul disparity. Smith too. They took a combined 40 shots and did not draw a single trip to the free throw line. (In Purdue’s six losses, Smith has attempted a total of six free throws — all against Ohio State, when he played only 30 minutes due to foul trouble. Go figure.)

The 10 fouls called against Kaufman-Renn and Caleb Furst mattered — more than keeping both out of the game for stretches, and eventually for good. They contributed to an accumulation, of which Michigan took full advantage. It went 8 for 8 in one-and-one situations — four in each half.

Purdue’s lone one-and-one chance came from freshman Raleigh Burgess. He came in with 16 free throw attempts over games which were decided by an average of 24.4 points. He went to the line with 58 seconds left Tuesday, trying to halve Michigan’s four-point lead.

He missed the front end, Ruben Jones scored a put-back dunk against the Kaufman-Renn and Furst-less front line, and Purdue faced a six-point hole with 39 seconds to play.

So yes, the fouls mattered. Yes, the Boilermakers grumbled about them, to a varying extent, both on and off the record.

The best reaction — the one which can still win them a Big Ten championship — was the amount of time they spent blaming the guys in black and gold instead of black and white.

Kaufman-Renn called himself out for two big mistakes. He failed to rotate and get vertical on a late defensive assignment. Then he made an awkward pass in the paint which resulted in a turnover. He was called for his fifth foul trying to rebound on the other end.

“I don’t think the game was lost from the officiating,” Kaufman-Renn said. “… We had our chances.”

Kaufman-Renn, Smith and Fletcher Loyer combined to score 61 points on 51 field goal attempts. Exactly the high-volume efficiency Painter wants and expects from his stars.

The other six combined for 12 points on 4-of-18 shooting with no assists and five turnovers. Michigan’s bench outscored Purdue’s 21-0. In a two-point game with the lead in the Big Ten on the line, those numbers are significant, too.

Purdue missed a handful of chances at the rim. It missed wide-open 3s in rhythm. It would love to have the final few minutes of the first half back, when Kaufman-Renn sat with two fouls and Michigan cut what had been an 11-point deficit down to two.

Back on Jan. 24 at Mackey Arena, the Boilermakers fairly quickly eliminated any hope Michigan might have had of capitalizing down the stretch. Tuesday night on the road, they left the Wolverines exactly enough rope to pull themselves back into the lead and keep it.

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Michigan

Michigan’s Biggest X Factor Against Arizona in Final Four Showdown

Published

7 hours ago

April 3, 2026

Press Room

Michigan’s Biggest X Factor Against Arizona in Final Four Showdown

It’s bound to be a heavyweight showdown on Saturday night between the pair of No. 1 seeds: Michigan vs. Arizona. Both teams are similar in style and build, and both teams have gone through their competition.

There will be plenty of stars on the court on Saturday night. For the Wolverines, the talk of Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara, and Elliot Cadeau has filled the talk shows in recent days, but there is another player who could be Michigan’s X Factor against the Wildcats.

Despite a role decrease this season, fifth-year senior Nimari Burnett will take the court as a starter and could play a pivotal role in what happens on Saturday night.

Why Burnett is the X Factor

In Year 3 at Michigan, Burnett is playing his lowest minutes and scoring the least since he arrived in Ann Arbor — but this is also the most talented team the Chicago native has played with. Burnett is surrounded by stars and he has taken his role and run with it.

“What also makes it worth it is playing here at this stage right now,” Burnett said to the media regarding his role. “Playing with the most unselfish, the best players across the country and getting to this moment, playing in the NCAA Tournament, it means everything. And these are the goals that we set prior to the season.

“So any level of success will take a level of sacrifice. We all understand that, but we’re all committed to that one goal, which is to win a National Championship.”

David Banks-Imagn Images

While he is playing just under 20 minutes per game, and averaging 8.4 points per game — he is still one of the top shooters on the team. When taking a three-point shot, Burnett makes 38.1%, just under Trey McKenney on the team.

Arizona is going to put a lot of focus on stopping the other starting three in the game on Saturday night. But we’ve seen previously what happens when Burnett gets his footing under him and gets confident.

Burnett scored a career-high 31 points earlier this season to help Michigan beat Penn State. He has scored in double figures in three of Michigan’s four NCAA Tournament wins and the Maize and Blue will hope he can remain hot in this game on Saturday.

The 6’5″ veteran hasn’t shot the three particularly well this postseason, but playing in Indianapolis, with a spot in the national title on the line — this is where leaders emerge and unsung heroes shine.

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Michigan

Storms move into SE, SW Michigan with low chance of tornado

Published

19 hours ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

Storms move into SE, SW Michigan with low chance of tornado

Severe storms that could potentially produce a tornado are moving through Michigan.

Southeast Barry County and Eaton County are under a severe thunderstorm warning through 9:15 p.m. while nine counties in southwest Michigan are under a tornado watch until 11 p.m.

“Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without shelter,” the NWS said. “Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed. Damage to roofs, windows, and vehicles will occur. Tree damage is likely.”

The agency issued tornado warnings for parts of Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties, but those warnings have expired.

The storm system moving into southwest Michigan is bringing winds with gust up to 70 mph and a low chance for an isolated tornado west of U.S.-23.

The storm also could bring hail measuring a half-inch in diameter and brief, heavy downpours of rain. Minor flooding is possible in areas with poor drainage.

mreinhart@detroitnews.com

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Michigan mobile home water provider, president accused of falsifying water safety tests

Published

1 day ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

Michigan mobile home water provider, president accused of falsifying water safety tests

A water services provider and its president are accused of falsifying water safety and discharge tests for private water systems serving mobile home communities in Michigan, state officials said.

Douglas Environmental is charged with six counts of forgery and one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said. The firm’s president, Brian Powell, 57, of Brighton, is also charged with six counts of forgery and seven counts of safe drinking water violations.

According to authorities, Douglas Environmental provided private water systems for several mobile home communities throughout Michigan, including the following communities:

Moon Lake Mobile Home Park in Shiawassee County
Thornapple Lake Estates in Barry County
Fenton Harbor Condominiums in Genesee County
Hickory Hills Mobile Homes in Calhoun County
Green Brook Estates in Livingston County
Western Pines in Kalamazoo County
Victory Gardens in Genesee County
North Bay Mobile Home Park in Genesee County

State prosecutors accuse Douglas Environmental of falsifying water test results at Moon Lake Mobile Home Park, Thornapple Lake Estates and Fenton Harbor Condominiums at least six times in 2023. Between 2020 and 2023, the company is also accused of failing to report water tests that exceeded maximum contaminant levels at Hickory Hills Mobile Homes, Green Brook Estates, North Bay Mobile Home Park, Fenton Harbor, Victory Gardens and Western Pines.

The Michigan DNR investigated Douglas Environmental after the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy discovered data discrepancies between reports and what the company submitted for review, state prosecutors say.

“Safe drinking water relies on honest testing,” said Nessel in a statement. “Falsifying reports jeopardizes the well-being of residents, and I am grateful for EGLE’s and DNR’s work to uncover and investigate these extremely troubling allegations. My office will continue to prosecute those who put Michiganders’ health at risk.”

Authorities say that based on EGLE’s testing, the public was not harmed by the alleged scheme.

“It’s deeply disappointing when individuals choose to falsify test results; they undermine the trust that communities place in the systems designed to safeguard them. Michigan residents deserve complete confidence that the water they rely on is safe,” said EGLE Director Phil Roos.

Powell will appear in the 55th District Court on May 5.

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