Michigan basketball is heading to the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the second straight season.
The Wolverines survived an epic game comeback against Wisconsin on Saturday, March 13, beating the Badgers, 68-65, in the semifinals.
On Sunday, March 15, they’ll face a suddenly-hot Purdue squad coming off victories over Northwestern, Nebraska and most recently, UCLA.
Who will come out victorious in the first-ever 18-team Big Ten Tournament?
Here’s a prediction from Freep’s experts on site in Chicago:
Michigan Big Ten Tournament game vs Purdue prediction
Tony Garcia
Michigan has now played four games in a row where their opponent has been within one possession at the under-four timeout. Each time, the Wolverines have had the answer. With the Boilermakers on their fourth game in four days – and facing bad matchups with the Wolverines in several spots – they won’t be able to hang with Dusty May’s crew, which will earn its third league banner (2025 tourney, 2025-26 regular season, 2026 tourney) in a mere 365 days. The pick: U-M 83, Purdue 72.
Carlos Monarrez
Michigan dodged a hot UCLA team, which lost to Purdue in the semis, 73-66, with their two best players sidelined with injuries for all or most of the game. Point guard Braden Smith and Trey Kaufmann-Renn are always threats, but if Yaxel Lendeborg gets going early and Elliot Cadeau stays out of foul trouble, this won’t be close. The pick: U-M 75, Purdue 69.
Shawn Windsor
The Wolverines caught the Boilermakers during their late-season slide, or maybe they started it – Purdue lost four their last six regular season games. And yet sometimes it’s just matchups, and U-M is a tough matchup for the Boilermakers. Or for anyone, really. Expect the Wolverines to shoot better than they have the last two games. It helps that Purdue struggles to defend. The pick: U-M 81, Purdue 68.
Chris Solari
Both teams managed to pull out epic semifinal victories, but only one can win the title after another high-level, competitive, back-and-forth battle. The Boilermakers’ big three veterans continue to lead the way. Ultimately, though, it comes down to U-M stalwart Will Tschetter to hit the surprise winning shot to allow the Wolverines to repeat as Big Ten Tournament champs and send them into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed. The pick: U-M 79, Purdue 77.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball Big Ten Tournament final prediction vs Purdue
Reporting by Tony Garcia, Carlos Monarrez, Shawn Windsor and Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
