Michigan slams Purdue for repeat
NEW YORK — The tenacious point guard his coach calls a
“pit bull” drove to the basket. But, instead of putting up his go-to hook shot, Zavier Simpson whipped a pass to the backup big man who became a Michigan folk hero Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
Jon Teske’s two-handed slam brought down the house and pretty much finished off No. 8 Purdue in the Big Ten tournament championship game.
With Simpson playing catalyst on both ends of the floor — running Michigan’s efficient offense and leading its lock-down defense — and Teske scoring a surprising 14 points, the 15thranked Wolverines beat the Boilermakers 75-66.
Fifth-seeded Michigan (28-7) became the first team to repeat as Big Ten tournament champion since Ohio State in 2010 and 2011.
Simpson finished with 10 points, five assists and five rebounds. Moe Wagner led Michigan with 17 points and was named most outstanding player of the tournament, despite playing only 17 minutes against Purdue (28-6) because of foul trouble — which plagued him all week.
That’s where Teske stepped in. The 7-foot-1-inch sophomore came in averaging 3.3 points but scored 12 in the first half and picked up the slack guarding 7-2 Purdue center Isaac Haas.
Simpson and Teske put an exclamation point on Michigan’s four-day Garden party with 6:02 left in the second half. Simpson drove and dished to Teske cutting to the basket. “Big Bad Jon,” as the guys call him, finished over Haas and let out a roar while chest-bumping teammates on his way to the bench.
The dunk made it 66-48 and brought chants of “Tes-key!” from the Michigan fans — who showed up in droves for the first Big Ten tournament played in New York.
“That was a blast, especially being here in New York City with all those Michigan fans that traveled from great distances or whoever lived here,” Teske said.
Purdue chipped away in the final minutes with Michigan missing free throws, but it was too late.
No. 10 Cincinnati 62, No. 11 Wichita State 61 —
At Wichita, Kan., Jacob Evans scored 19 points for the Bearcats (27-4, 16-2 American Athletic Conference), who survived a second-half slugfest to wrap up a regular-season league title.
The Shockers (24-6, 14-4) needed a win to share the AAC crown and would have earned the top seed in the league tournament after having beaten Cincinnati earlier this season.
The teams combined for two baskets in the final five minutes.
No. 25 Houston 81, Connecticut 71 —
At Houston, Rob
Gray scored 30 points for the Cougars (24-6, 14-4 AAC), who finished 15-0 at home for the first time since 1983-84. Jalen Adams had 22 points and six assists for the Huskies (14-17, 7-11), who shot 51 percent.