Wolverines cap big week with win
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Michigan basketball team crammed a lifetime worth of memories into a magical week and received a treasured souvenir as a keepsake.
After defeating No. 24 Wisconsin 71- 56 on Sunday to win the Big Ten tournament, the Wolverines held high the hardware that accompanied the feat.
Before helping to cut down the net, Michigan coach John Beilein gathered his players to deliver an emotional message.
‘‘ What I told them is, ‘ You’re going to come back [ to the school] 20 years from now, and that trophy is going to sit there, and you’re going to tell your grandkids about those five days and what happened,’ ’’ Beilein said.
The Wolverines ( 24- 11) began their journey with a scary skid off an airport runway in Michigan and ended it by overwhelming the Badgers ( 25- 9), who had their three- game winning streak broken.
Between the aborted flight and hoisting the trophy, eighth- seeded Michigan beat ninth- seeded Illinois, top- seeded Purdue, fourthseeded Minnesota and secondseededWisconsin.
‘‘ It means so much to all of us,’’ Wolverines guard Zak Irvin said. ‘‘ All of the adversity that we’ve been to throughout the whole tournament, we stuck together as a family and got the job done.’’
So the first Big Ten tournament in the nation’s capital ended with a surprise champion cutting down the nets at the Verizon Center.
Tournament most valuable player Derrick Walton Jr. scored 22 points, D. J. Wilson 17 and Irvin 15 for Michigan, which had lost 17 of its previous 20 games against the Badgers. The Wolverines shot 56 percent and were 10- for- 23 from three- point range.
As a reward, Michigan will be the seventh seed in the Midwest Regional and will open the NCAA tournament against 10th- seeded Oklahoma State.
‘‘ We overcame a lot,’’ Walton said. ‘‘ Had a lot of trials and tribulations. All I can say is God is good. We’re here for a reason.’’
Bronson Koenig scored 15 points and Nigel Hayes and Ethan Happ 14 apiece for Wisconsin, which shot 39 percent and scored only 24 points after halftime.
The Badgers looked so good during their winning streak and so ordinary in this game.
‘‘ We were playing really well for the past three games or so,’’ Koenig said. ‘‘ We just kind of went away from what was working a little bit.’’
Wisconsin will enter the NCAA tournament as the eighth seed in the East Regional and will face ninth- seeded Virginia Tech.
The Wolverines took control at the start of the second half, holding the Badgers without a field goal for the first eight minutes to turn a 33- 32 halftime lead into a 44- 34 advantage.
‘‘ We [ got] two points on our first 10 possessions of the second half,’’ Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. ‘‘ You’re going to have a hard time against anybody when you’re having that type of struggle offensively.’’