As losses go, there have been worse for Michigan basketball.

Purdue has beaten lots of teams — good teams — and losing to the No. 3-ranked Boilermakers — even at home —is hardly a reason to fret.

But as sporting scenes?

Sunday saw the U-M program bottom out at Crisler Center, as Boilermakers fans took over the atmosphere.

Don't blame the team for that, not the players who showed toughness and togetherness against the more talented Bopilermakers and kept it a game until the end (unlike their 32-point loss earlier this year in Indiana).

For that, these Wolverines deserve respect. They fought. They competed, despite missing their starting power forward and their backup point guard, despite suffering through one of the worst seasons in school history. Not that this program is interested in an empty attaboy.

But they are overmatched most times they step on the floor, and recognizing a spirited game from an undermanned team shouldn’t come with a sentence to the sports jail. That the Wolverines played as hard as they have all season says a little something.

Should head coach Juwan Howard deserve credit for getting his guys to compete?

Well, technically, sure. Though that’s the minimum for a job such as the one he has at U-M. Competing is implied in the description.

Unfortunately for Howard, so is roster construction, and program building, and Howard has failed to do both the last two seasons. Whether he can is a question for the offseason, though the past two seasons aren't exactly endorsements of those skills.

No wonder so many Purdue fans showed up Sunday at Crisler: Boilermakers’ fans were louder even than Michigan State fans were here a week ago Saturday night.

Yet at least MSU is nearby, with Spartans fans everywhere in this state. There are even some in Ann Arbor. That isn’t fun for U-M, but at least it’s understandable, and not unprecedented.

But this?

Hearing “Boiler Up! Boiler Up!” in your own home?

“Disappointing,” said Terrance Williams II, though that wasn’t all he said about what Crisler was like Sunday.

There was, he said, “definitely a disgust factor. I’m not gonna lie. ... It felt like Mackey Arena.”

That’s no lie, either.

Williams was miffed — crushed, even. He said he’d never seen anything like it here or on the road. The implication is that other teams — even in down years — don’t have to face thousands of fans rooting against them in their own homes.

Don’t blame Williams. He’s a solid player who has watched this program slip by the year.

And he gave good effort again Sunday, only to watch Purdue guard Lance Jones hit a reverse layup in the first half — part of a 10-2 run that gave the Boilermakers a bit of control — then wave his arms toward the crowd.

No, he wasn’t trolling, as visiting players like to do sometimes to let the home crowd know it’s going to be a long day. Instead, he was asking the thousands of Purdue fans to make even more noise. And they did, and it was as loud as anyone can ever remember opposing fans getting at Crisler.

Of course Williams was disappointed and disgusted.

Odd then, that Howard said he didn’t notice the noise Purdue fans were making, that he was locked in on “coaching.” When pressed, he said something about the students being on break, and that’s true ... but that doesn’t explain it either.

Meanwhile, Purdue coach Matt Painter absolutely noticed. He said he’d never seen anything like it.

“I told our guys at halftime, `This might never happen again, so give them something to cheer about,” he said.

You know who else noticed?

Zach Edey, the 7-foot-4 center who scored 35 points and dominated the paint with 15 rebounds, as he so often does.

“It was unique,” he said of the atmosphere. “I've never experienced something like that in college basketball.”

Why would he?

It’s not supposed to happen. Yeah, U-M isn’t a pure basketball school. It’s a football school with a lot of success over the decades on the court.

Success that has come with droughts. It has just been a while since one of those hit. And it’s easy to forget what it looks and sounds like when a season goes south.

Well, Sunday was the low point.

Again, not on the court, where the Wolverines gave the Boilermakers a game.

But inside the home of the program? The Boilermakers demolished whatever spirit was left in this program.

As Painter said, he’d never seen anything like it.

It would help if Howard acknowledged the same.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball hits its low point, but don't blame the players