Michigan reaffirms No. 1 ranking by dispatching No. 7 Purdue - ESPN

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Michigan's week started with the Wolverines moving to No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since the 2012-13 season. With games at Purdue and versus Duke in a five-day span this week, however, there was some concern their time on top could be short-lived.

But they looked every bit the best team in the country Tuesday at Mackey Arena, comprehensively dispatching No. 7 Purdue 91-80. Michigan led for the final 33 minutes, and its lead expanded to as many as 20 points late in the first half.

«We needed to deliver a lot of punches, whether it was the first or second,» coach Dusty May said. «We knew this was going to go all 10 [rounds]. If we took a shot, we knew we had to respond and our guys did that over the course of the game. That was impressive the way they answered those runs with really sound play.»

After Purdue scored the first two baskets of the game and led after seven minutes, Michigan took the lead on a pair of L.J. Cason free throws with 12:50 to go in the first half and never trailed the rest of the way. Cason's foul shots jump-started a 16-0 run that put Purdue on the back foot and quieted what had been a raucous Purdue crowd.

«They set the tone,» Purdue coach Matt Painter said. «That, to me, is the game right there. The way they set the tone.»

Michigan's differentiator this season has been its size, and 7-foot-3 Aday Mara was the game changer in the paint in the first half before foul trouble forced him to the bench for much of the second period. There was a sequence midway through the first half that epitomized his impact at both ends of the floor. He began by forcing Oscar Cluff into a missed shot at the rim, followed it up with an assist to Roddy Gayle Jr. for a layup, then altered