PLANE AND SIMPLE
Airport scare thing of past as Michigan upsets Purdue
Michigan’s basketball players woke up Friday in the same city they would be playing in that afternoon. What a refreshing change during what’s been quite a week.
They ate breakfast at a regular hour. Watched game film as usual, too. Heck, the Wolverines even got to wear their proper blue road jerseys — with their last names printed on the back and everything — to face 13th-ranked Purdue in the Big Ten quarterfinals in Washington D.C.
Two days after its airplane’s scary abandoned takeoff, Michigan moved into the league tournament semifinals with a 74-70 overtime upset of Purdue behind D.J. Wilson’s 26 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
“It’s not going away just yet,” Michigan coach John Beilein said about his team’s rattling trip. “Those 40 minutes out there” — well, 45 when you include OT, Coach — “I wasn’t thinking about that at all. And the kids weren’t, either.”
It was an engaging, back-andforth affair. The teams combined for 14 ties and 17 lead changes in regulation alone, and they headed to overtime tied at 66 after Zak Irvin pulled Michigan even on a layup with 4.2 seconds left, before Wilson blocked a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The eighth-seeded Wolverines (22-11) got 13 points from Irvin against the No. 1 seed Boilermakers (25-7). Michigan next faces No. 4 seed Minnesota.
Minnesota 63, Michigan St. 58
In Washington, Reggie Lynch returned from taking a forearm to the face and scored 16 points to lead fourth-seeded Minnesota in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament.
Lynch’s return sparked an 8-0 second-half run for the Golden Gophers (24-8), who advance to face Michigan in the semifinals.
Lynch had five blocked shots to stymie the Spartans (19-14), who got 20 point from Miles Bridges.
Northwestern, 72, Maryland 64
In Washington, Scottie Lindsey and Vic Law each scored 17 points for the Northwestern (23-10) in the Big Ten quarterfinals They took control against No. 25 Maryland with a 20-2 run in the second half. Northwestern will face Wisconsin in the semifinals.
Oregon 73, California 65
In Las Vegas, Tyler Dorsey had 23 points, Dylan Ennis scored on a key three-point play with 22 seconds left, and No. 5 Oregon advances to the Pac-12 final to face the Arizona-UCLA winner
Kentucky 71, Georgia 60
In Nashville, Tenn., Isaiah Bris- coe and De’Aaron Fox each scored 20 points, Bam Adebayo added 13 and No. 8 Kentucky went on to victory in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Kentucky advances to Saturday’s semifinal against fifth-seeded Alabama.
SMU 81, E. Carolina 77
In Hartford, Conn., Semi Ojeleye scored a career-high 36 points and No. 12 SMU won in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament. He also had 12 rebounds. Sterling Brown added 16 points for SMU (28-4).
Vanderbilt 72, Florida 62
In Nashville, Tenn., Riley LaChance scored five of his 18 points in overtime, and Vanderbilt upset No. 17 Florida in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. Iowa State 84, TCU 63 In Kansas City, Mo., Deonte Burton had 22 points, Monte Morris had 15 and No. 23 Iowa State routed TCU to reach the Big 12 Tournament title game where they will face West Virginia or Kansas State.