Michigan might be the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and the regular season champion. But on back-to-back days, they've survived serious challenges from Ohio State and Wisconsin. They won both — but barely — and will play in the championship game on Sunday against Purdue, who beat UCLA.
CHICAGO — Michigan has been the best team in the Big Ten this season, and it was Purdue that was the preseason No. 1. So even though the routes have been different, it's no real surprise that the two programs will play for the Big Ten Tournament title on Sunday.
Michigan got some revenge against No. 5-seed Wisconsin in the semifinals on Saturday, beating the Badgers 68-65 on Yaxel Lendeborg's buzzer-beating three-pointer. Wisconsin was the only team to beat Michigan during the Big Ten season.
Here's the game story from Michigan Roundtable writer Zach Besaw.
Lendeborg was one of four Wolverines in double figures as they raised their record to 31-2. Center Aday Mara had 16, Elliot Cadeau added 15 and Trey McKenney scored 10 off the bench.
"What a fabulous basketball game, kind of a modern Big Ten game where teams were fighting, clawing, scrapping, competing at the highest level, but also making some high level shots and plays,'' Michigan coach Dusty May said. "I'm very, very proud of our guys. When you see them make the big shots that they made tonight, you just think back to how much work they put in in the gym after practice, before practice, in the mornings, whatever the case, on the weekends, and the game rewards that behavior.
"We've talked about being in close games, and we haven't been in a close game like this all year where there was a lot of friction in our huddles. The emotion was pouring out late in the game because there were such extreme runs. There's always runs. These were extreme runs. I was proud of our guys. They were able to regulate their emotions, get back together, and figure out a way to win. When you get this late in the season, you've got to figure out some different ways.''
No. 7 seed Purdue won its third game in three days, beating No. seed UCLA 73-66. Center Oscar Cluff was the star for Purdue, scoring 17 points with 14 rebounds. Undersized UCLA couldn't keep him off the glass. He had nine offensive rebounds. Fletcher Loyer added 14 points with four three-pointers and Trey Kaufman-Renn added 12 pointys and 10 rebounds.
Purdue point guard Braden Smith scored only five points but he had nine assists, giving him 1,064 in his career. He needs 13 more to break Bobby Hurley’s NCAA record of 1,076 when he played at Duke from 1989-93.
The Boilers are excited to be in the finals, especially after that late skid.
"I think more than anything, it's an honor just to be in the tournament, to win three games and get to the championship,'' Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "But for us, it was more of playing well and stringing some wins together. You have to be able to show that consistency.
"We haven't shot the ball well, and we've been able to win three games. It's not like overall like we're bad. We shoot 46 percent, 36 percent from 3 tonight. They're not great. That's not great numbers. Like our numbers have to be better in my opinion to beat elite people.''
Michigan and Purdue met just once, on Feb. 17 in West Lafayette. The Wolverines won 91-80, and basically clinched the Big Ten regular season title for them. That loss started a Purdue skid, where they lost four of six games down the stretch.
"I think hopefully our communication is much better, our defense is much better,'' Cluff said. "Really it's just about us doing our jobs. That's what we've talked about, whether it be Michigan, Wisconsin, UCLA, whoever it is. We can live with it if we do our job. I think our mindset is kind of making sure, when we go back and watch the film of the game, to make sure we don't mess up.''
The game starts at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be televised by CBS.