Chicago — For the second time in as many weeks, the Wolverines find themselves playing for a Big Ten title.
Thanks to a last-second 3-pointer from forward Yaxel Lendeborg, top-seeded Michigan sank No. 5 seed Wisconsin and advanced to Sunday’s Big Ten tournament championship game at United Center, where it will face No. 7 seed Purdue.
“We came into the year wanting to cut down four nets,” guard Roddy Gayle Jr. said after Saturday’s dramatic 68-65 semifinal win. “We’re one step closer to our goals, with one of the four out the way. We’ve got an opportunity to get the second net tomorrow.”
Michigan captured the outright regular-season title two weeks ago and finished with a 19-1 record in league play. Along the way, the Wolverines knocked off 16 of the other 17 league opponents.
The lone exception was Wisconsin until Michigan got its payback and avenged its lone conference loss.
“To have that our on résumé is a beautiful thing,” guard Nimari Burnett said of defeating every Big Ten team. “I feel like at this point of the season we’re making history every single game.”
The Wolverines will have a chance to do just that. Since the Big Ten tournament was first played in 1998, no Michigan team has ever won the outright regular-season and tournament titles in the same season.
It’s a feat only five conference schools have accomplished: Michigan State (1999), Illinois (2005), Ohio State (2007, 2011), Wisconsin (2008, 2015) and Purdue (2023).
After winning the conference tournament title last season as the No. 3 seed, Michigan has an opportunity to become the first Big Ten team to repeat as champion since 2017-18 — when the Wolverines last pulled it off — and the first conference program to go back-to-back on two occasions.
“That’s what I dreamed of. My prayers are literally coming true in front my eyes,” Burnett said. “I’m excited for tomorrow and the journey ahead.”
It’d be yet another milestone in a season that’s been filled with them. The Wolverines set a program record with 29 regular-season wins. They set a Big Ten record with 19 conference wins. They’re the second Big Ten team ever and first in 50 years to go undefeated on the road in league play.
With its two wins in the Big Ten tournament, Michigan is an astounding 21-1 against conference opponents. But make no mistake, the Wolverines want one more.
It won’t come easy against a Purdue team that has won three games in three days and knocked off Northwestern, Nebraska and UCLA by a combined 36 points.
“We have a really tough game tomorrow,” coach Dusty May said. “We’re learning about ourselves. We’re still discovering more about our team. We want to compete for championships, but you don’t compete for a championship without what we’re going to do in preparation now and then when we set foot on the floor for 80 possessions.”
After closing the regular season with four losses in six games — a stretch that began with Michigan beating Purdue, 91-80, on Feb. 17 at Mackey Arena — the Boilermakers seemed to have turned things around and found another gear in the postseason.
The Wolverines, meanwhile, have had to scratch and claw to the finish as of late, with three of their past four wins being decided by four points or fewer. But at this time of the year, all that matters is finding a way to win, no matter how it looks.
“This is a goal we wrote down at the beginning of the year,” guard Elliot Cadeau said. “Even though we won the regular season (title), we still want to win this tournament badly.
“The mindset for us is to keep our intensity as high as possible and play as hard as we can, especially on the defensive end, every possession.”
If Michigan does that, there’s a good chance it’ll have another reason to celebrate before turning its attention to the NCAA Tournament and beginning its march to the Final Four and the national title game.
“We’re super excited man,” Lendeborg said. “One more game to get the second net. We want to be the best Michigan team ever and we’re moving closer and closer to that goal.”
Big Ten tournament final
MICHIGAN VS. PURDUE
Tip-off: 3:30 p.m. Sunday, United Center, Chicago
TV/radio: CBS/94.7
Records: Michigan 31-2; Purdue 26-8
jhawkins@detroitnews.com
@jamesbhawkins
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan basketball one win away from another goal and a ‘second net’
Reporting by James Hawkins, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
