Big 10 Tournament Scores 2017: Michigan Upsets Top Seed Purdue

Instead, the No. 8-seeded Wolverines led wire-to-wire in a convincing 75-55 victory over No. 9 IL in second-round action at the Big Ten Tournament at the Verizon Center.

The Gophers will finish the Big Ten Regular Season pressure free Saturday night where they were honor the six seniors on the roster before the game.

The sound of the Illinois’ men’s basketball NCAA tournament bubble bursting rang through the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. after a 75-55 clubbing by MI.

The Michigan Wolverines had to overcome a lot just to physically arrive at the Big Ten tournament.

Senior guard Derrick Walton scored 19 points, Zak Irvin had 18 and Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman added 17 for MI. Wilson led the way with 26 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots to lift the Wolverines past Purdue for the second time in two weeks.

No one was injured, according to MI spokesman Kurt Svoboda. MI went right to work making sure everyone was safe (they were) and finding a new way to get to the tournament. Ohio State has won four, Wisconsin three, IL and Iowa two apiece and Purdue one.

In extra time, Irvin kept it rolling, scoring on two more hard drives to the basket to make it 70-67 with less than two minutes to play.

Can Irvin and Abdur-Rakhman lead MI to a Big Ten title? They will challenge the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the semifinals on Saturday.

Through the first 10 minutes of the game, MI led by as much as four points and trailed by as little as two. No matter. Wearing practice jerseys, MI mopped the floor with IL, making 12 of its first 18 shots to jump out to a 20-point lead in less than 13 minutes.

The Wolverines didn’t miss a beat offensively without Wagner, but the one-two punch of Haas and sophomore power forward Caleb “Biggie” Swanigan combined for 10 points in the first 10 minutes.

Minnesota will be the No. 1 seed in next week’s Big Ten tournament in Detroit, and will face the victor of the 4-5 game. Walton is shooting 48% on 2-pointers and 43% on 3-pointers in Big Ten games, Mason checks in at just 39% on 2-pointers and 34% on 3-pointers.

Wilson made a free throw to cut it to 66-64 with 21.4 seconds left.

Purdue finished the half with six straight points to make it 37-28 and still trailed 42-38 early in the second half. Miles Bridges is leading the team with 16.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while Nick Ward is adding 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest.

Michigan, the team that could barely reach the Big Ten Tournament because of a plane crash, is now a March darling. Purdue shot a blistering 59.3 percent from the field, and MI was an impressive 53.8. All bets are off on how far surviving a plane crash can take a college basketball team. “Like coach says, he wants us to gain respect”. The Gophers can clinch at least a share of the Big Ten Championship with three points this weekend against Michigan State and the outright title with four points regardless of Wisconsin’s results. Do they have enough outside of the paint to run the table in a sure to be very tough Big Ten Tournament?