There weren’t many within the Michigan fan base that expected the Wolverines to walk away with road win against No. 2 ranked Purdue Boilermakers last night, but most hoped that they’d at least put up a good fight. That didn’t happen.

Instead of a hard fought battle, the Wolverines looked completely overmatched and outclassed by Purdue, en route to a 32-point loss – their seventh loss in the last eight games.

Michigan is now firmly in last place within the conference at 2-6 (7-12 overall), and the criticism directed at head coach Juwan Howard and his program is growing stronger by the day. Following the embarrassing loss to Purdue last night, former Michigan Basketball standout Nik Stauskas shared his thoughts on social media – and he didn’t hold back.

“These kids have no respect or understanding of what it means to put on that block M,” wrote Stauskas. “Haven’t felt any kind of passion or love for the game from Michigan basketball in years.”

Stauskas was part of an incredible stretch of success under former U-M head coach John Beilein during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons – including a trip to the National Championship game. He was named Big Ten Player of the Year (Coaches and Media) in 2014, and was also named unanimous first team All-Big Ten by both the Coaches and Media. In his final season with the Wolverines, Stauskas averaged 17.5 points per game and was widely considered the top player in the conference.

That era of Michigan Basketball almost feels like a lifetime ago at this point, and now the general discussion surrounding the program is centered on Juwan Howard and his job performance since taking over in 2019-20. Although it hasn’t been all bad for Howard during his tenure in Ann Arbor, the issues both on and off the court seemingly have the program trending downward year after year.