We Talkin’ About Practice (Jerseys), Michigan!

“We look forward to having him play well in Washington, D.C”.

Senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. couldn’t help but give Beilein a bear hug and pull on his tie in the locker room to celebrate the milestone.

The Wolverines got 19 points from Derrick Walton Jr., 18 from Zak Irvin and 17 from Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman in the team’s win over IL.

In addition, their head coach John Beilien earned his 210th win as a result of Thursday’s victory, surpassing legendary coach Johnny Orr’s record for the most wins at the college.

The No. 8 seed Wolverines (21-11) showed their poise and mental toughness Thursday afternoon by responding to a scary slide off the runway in heavy winds in MI by defeating No. 9 seed IL 75-55 in a second-round game in the Verizon Center. Even so, most admitted they felt the moderate turbulence the plane experienced while landing.

The victor of the No. 8 Wolverines vs. The plane sustained extensive damage, but everyone inside the plane was unharmed and was safely evacuated.

“You know, when you’re going through it you don’t have time to stop and think about things, you’re just trying to figure out, ‘Okay, we’re in a crisis, what do we do next?'” he said, standing in the hallway after his team had removed any lingering doubts about its NCAA tournament status.

When discussing the challenges MI poses in today’s Big Ten Conference Tournament game, Illini coach John Groce touched on the Wolverines’ shooting skills, their improved defense and the always solid coaching of John Beilein. By halftime, Michigan’s lead was 40-29, but it again got the margin back to as many as 20 in the second half.

That’s why Illinois’ 85-69 victory over MI on January 11 in Champaign was noteworthy, simply because IL finally flipped the script. Leading 22-11 after Irvin found D.J. IL got out to another slow start, down 15-4 early, they never caught up.

About Alex Roux: A graduate of the University of Illinois, Roux is a BTN.com web editor and covers news across the Big Ten Conference on BTN.com and BTN’s social media platforms. They responded to one of those moments in life when it would have been easy to tuck and run.

MI had an answer for every IL field goal, as the Wolverines maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game. Trailing 40-29 at halftime, IL (18-14) cut its deficit to eight early in the second half before MI quickly stretched its lead back to double-digits.

The Illinois Fighting Illini (18-13) are coming from a 62-59 loss to Rutgers in which Maverick Morgan scored 16 points in 6-for-14 shooting from the field. He’s missed the NCAA tournament four out of the last five years. Abdur-Rahkman had a balanced stat line with 18 points, three steals, three rebounds and three assists. Duncan Robinson hit 3 of 4 3-pointers and had 11 points.

The Michigan Wolverines and Purdue Boilermakers meet up in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals on Friday.

MI came into the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament as one of the league’s hottest teams, winning six of its previous eight games and finishing the regular season with a 26-point victory at Nebraska to put itself on the good side of the NCAA tournament bubble.