Michigan survives upset-minded Iowa
NEW YORK — With Michigan’s stars saddled with foul trouble, and the shots just not falling, the 15th-ranked Wolverines got a lift from their senior sixth man to survive their Big Ten Tournament opener.
Duncan Robinson made Michigan’s only field goal in overtime, a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:15 left, and the Wolverines overcame an assortment of issues to beat Iowa 77-71 on Thursday to move on to the quarterfinals.
The fifth-seeded Wolverines (25-7) face fourth-seeded Nebraska on Friday at Madison Square Garden.
“I’m proud of our guys, because it was not — if you just look at the stat lines, the only way we could win that game was defense,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “The foul shots didn’t go in, The 3s didn’t go in. I think one guy made a 3.”
Yep, just Robinson. The Big Ten’s Sixth Man of the year was 3 for 6. The rest of the Wolverines went 0 for 13. His OT 3 put Michigan up 72-70.
“It’s a good screen by Jon (Teske) and a good pass by Charles (Matthews),” said Robinson, who finished with 11 points. “It all stems from teammates and coaches giving me confidence to step up and take that shot in the first place.”
The Wolverines made just enough free throws to hold off the Hawkeyes (14-19), who got a basket from Luka Garza on their first overtime possession and not another one.
Michigan was 18 for 32 from the free-throw line, but Robinson made two with 10 seconds left to make it 76-71.
Brevin Pritzl broke a tie with a foul-line jumper with 28 seconds left and Khalil Iverson secured the win with a steal in the waning seconds, leading the Badgers past the Terrapins. Brad Davison and Iverson each made two free throws in the final nine seconds, and the ninth-seeded Badgers (15-17) advanced to the quarterfinals against topseeded Michigan State on Friday. Ethan Happ had 14 points and seven rebounds for Wisconsin, which has won five of seven. Davison finished with 13 points while Iverson had 11 and six rebounds and Pritzl 10 points. Kevin Huerter had 20 points for Maryland (19-13), which has lost seven of its last 11 games. Corey Sanders scored 28 points and last-place Rutgers upset Indiana to advance to the quarterfinals. The 14th-seeded Scarlet Knights (15-18) face third seed and No. 8 Purdue in the final game of Friday’s quadruple-header. The Hoosiers (16-15) started the game on a 17-3 run, but were manhandled for the most part by Rutgers over the final 30 minutes. Rutgers led by seven with 10 minutes left in the second half, but the Hoosiers had it tied less than two minutes later. Indiana never could get the lead back. Back-toback buckets by Sanders had Rutgers up by three and Geo Baker’s 3 from the left wing made it 56-50 for the Scarlet Knights with 5:12 left. Rutgers has won two games in a single conference tournament for the first time since 1998 in the Big East. The last time Rutgers won three conference tournament games was 1989 in the Atlantic 10.