Michigan breezes past Illinois
Flying into town only a few hours before tipoff because of travel trouble a day earlier, and wearing yellow practice jerseys instead of the game uniforms that got stuck on their abandoned airplane, Michigan raced to an early double-digit lead and beat Illinois 75-55 to reach the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.
Derrick Walton scored 19 points for No. 8 seed Michigan (21-11), which meets regularseason conference champion Purdue next.
The Wolverines were stuck wearing the simple, practice tank tops — no players’ names on the back — against ninth-seeded Illinois (18-14) because their proper uniforms, along with everyone’s suitcases, were trapped under the plane that slid off a runway during an aborted takeoff Wednesday, according to Michigan spokesman Kurt Svoboda.
No one was injured, Svoboda said.
Tyler Davis, a team manager, tweeted a brief video of the aftermath.
Players and coaches packed new luggage for the trip, the practice jerseys were retrieved from campus, and Michigan flew — successfully, this time — to the D.C. area on Thursday morning. The team landed at 8:45 a.m., got to the arena at around 10:35 a.m., then were playing basketball less than two hours after that.
Miles Bridges and Nick Ward had 15 points and nine rebounds apiece, and Michigan State (19-13) rolled into the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament by breezing past weary Penn State (15-18).
James Blackmon Jr. and Indiana (18-14) buried Iowa (18-14) under a barrage of long distance shots, and the Hoosiers used a huge second half to notch a victory.
Vic Law led the way as Northwestern (22-10) went on a run of 31 consecutive points in the first half of a rout of Rutgers (15-18).