Michigan 75, Illinois 55
Zak Irvin, in practice gear, had one of his best all-around games. [Paul Sherman]
While the harrowing details of yesterday's plane accident were still being released, Michigan played Illinois wearing their practice jerseys. Their normal gear sat in the cargo hold of a crashed plane in Willow Run. Tipoff was delayed by under a half-hour to accommodate the Wolverines arriving at the Verizon Center at 10:40 am for what was originally set to be a noon game.
Once the game started, however, the unusual uniforms were the only sign the Wolverines were less than 24 hours removed from skidding off a runway. Fresh off an early morning flight, Michigan jumped out to a 15-4 lead against Illinois and spent much of the duration ahead by double digits, ending the Illini's NCAA tournament hopes (and quite possibly John Groce's employment hopes) while earning a quarterfinal matchup with top-seeded Purdue. John Beilein also broke Johnny Orr's school record with his 210th victory at Michigan.
Zak Irvin had his shot going early, netting 12 of his 18 points in the first half. That inital run held strong as Michigan made 5-of-11 threes in the half and forced nine Illinois turnovers on the other end. The defense was every bit as impressive as the offense. Timely weak-side double-teams from the baseline caught the Illini off-guard time and again, and the Wolverines used that element of surprise to convert turnovers into easy points.
Michigan didn't look ready to play a game. Looks can be deceiving. [Sherman]
Tracy Abrams was almost singlehandedly responsible for keeping Illinois within striking distance at halftime due to a personal ten-point run late in the first, and he kept his offense going in the second, finishing with a game-high 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting. But Michigan shut down everyone else; no other Illini scored in double figures. Irvin locked down second-team all-conference forward Malcolm Hill, who mustered only four points while going 1-for-8 from the field.
That strong defensive effort gave Michigan the breathing room it needed when their outside shooting suddenly went cold. The Wolverines went only 4-for-14 from beyond the arc in the second half, missing nine in a row at one point. Lethal finishing helped, too; M finished the game a stellar 21-for-31 on two-pointers.
Much of that was driven, as usual, by Derrick Walton. The first-team All-B1G snub played at the remarkable level he has for the last couple months, scoring 19 points, dishing out five assists, and pulling down four rebounds while continually pushing the tempo to catch the Illini defense out of position. Muhammad-Ali Adbur-Rahkman looked ready to replicate last year's Big Ten Tournament breakout with 17 points, three assists, and three steals. DJ Wilson had a quiet yet efficient 11 points. Illinois was content to focus on limiting Moe Wagner, who only scored six points but had a huge impact on the other end, coming away with five steals and committing just three fouls.
Maverick Morgan finished with four points, three rebounds, and five turnovers while his "white collar" quote hung above Michigan's lockers.
This team is anything but that now. After a frightening, hectic, and ultimately triumphant 24 hours, they finally have a little time to regroup before facing Purdue at noon tomorrow. The Wolverines are the last team the Boilermakers want to face right now.
considering the circumstances, starting to really love this team I was annoyed with earlier in the season, could be somethoing special brewing, keep it going men, Go Blue!!!
Keep wearing the practice jerseys.
when I saw the highlights I assumed those were practice jerseys due to the flight problem yesterday but wasn't sure. Might as well wear them for the rest of the B1G tournament, at least.
Congrats to Coach Beilein and the team. #210 was sweet.
Winning margin was one of the first things I thought of after the game, too. Illinois' worst conference loss was to MD by 25, but they lost to West Virginia by 32 out of conference.
Great in practice! Just don't tell Zak that this WASN'T a practice.
up the great defense.
MAAR now with 7 straight double digit scoring games. He is the epitome of what you want out of your 4 year role player type guys, and he's stepping it up big time recently.
and really, when Zak isn't jacking up too many bad shots a game, our top six all fit together extremely well.
Please tell me we are wearing these jerseys tomorrow
This game is legend. What a wild season this is turning into. It's not Beilein's best team, but like the hockey team last year, it is delightfully entertaining.
I think I'm the only one that is hoping we wear regular jerseys when we have the chance. It would really show how confident this team is and has been for the last month. This game didn't turn anything around, we've been the best team in the Big Ten for a month now. Swithcing back would saying "These jersey's are nothing, we're just a great basketball team"
#REMARBAKELEVEL
When Derrick Walton Jr. is playing at level REMARBAKE I assume it's not at some pedestrian **** like 350 degrees. He's cooking with GAS.
A plane crash can't stop us....what chance does Purdue have tomorrow?
Not even their little Choo-Choo train is going to stop us tomorrow. They can boiler up all they want, but these guys just survived a plane crash and a slow little locomotive is not going to frighten this group.
but I can see Swanigan having a big game tomorrow. I think it will be a very close game...but hope its like today.
Thank God we didnt have to face a power like Rutgers. LOL
Pretty amazing for us to be FORCED to wear practice jerseys against a team that called us white collar. Nothing more blue collar than opening a can in practice jerseys and mismatched practice shoes!
So excited that everybody's okay and with this trouncing of Illinois. I'm hoping the adrenaline can keep flowing for another day, but I wouldn't be too surprised if a presumably bad night of sleep catches up with them at some point during the tournament.
Playing as a unit. All the pistons are firing. Beilein and assistants orchestrating.
Team in the best sense of the word. Could lead to something special. Beat PU
Hopefully the good that comes from that MD-83 Pete Rosing its way off the runway at YIP is that this team is further bound as a team. Today's beat-down was good, and tomorrow's challenge is daunting.
Tomorrow's outcome is anything but a sure thing. But I would not bet against this team.
from this point on.
We're safely in the tournament, with a ton of momentum and a near-disaster turned legendary performance.
So nice to be able to sit back and enjoy the ride!
Go Blue! Beat Purdue!
Look at this douchebag's response to the "white collar" quote being hung in the Michigan locker room:
@BFQuinn Michigan had time to tape these up but couldn't make the tip on time? Michigan also chucked 25 3's. So... he has a point.
— Andrew Leach (@andrewmurky84) March 9, 2017
Enjoy watching the NIT.
Saw that as well. Part asshole, part ignorant. We "chucked" 25 3's on our way to 75 points
Great game today, have to fight off the letdown of the last 24 hours and not come out flat tomorrow but that is the benefit of having seniors on the team.
And play a smaller line up with wilson at the 5. One of the two need to be out there the whole game. Donnal doesnt enjoy playing basketball anymore and it shows.
Michigan is like that weird guy who shows up to the pickup game in jeans and a tank top but proceeds to drop in most of his team's points. Then lights up a Marlboro Menthol before the next game.
of a character I have encounterd at a pick-up game, lo those many years ago.
If you played a lot of pickup - this guy always showed up at some point. And he was invariably good. He'd have a little flair to his game: maybe chirp like a bird after a long jumper or do play-by-play that would either start a fight or crack everyone up.
Irvin was phenomenal, especially in removing Hill. Shot pretty well, two over dribbling turnovers, but I'll take it with all the other stuff he did.
We're going to give them a game. That's for sure. Win that and we either get Minnesota with out the bad refs or another chance to pound Izzo and company.
March 10th, 2017 at 12:06 AM ^
Might get to top 75 in defensive efficiency at this rate. 79th! (also now top 5 offensive)
is hysterical:
"The Illini did not exactly show well Thursday afternoon. That's putting it politely. John Groce's team fought valiantly (except, you know, against Rutgers last week) down the stretch to get into the bubble picture in the first place, but they still (probably) needed multiple wins in the Big Ten tournament to really make things look realistic. Their first opponent? A team whose plane literally crashed during during an aborted takeoff Wednesday night. Michigan had to fly to Washington, D.C., in a rush early Thursday, needed a 20-minute delay to the tipoff time, and had to play in practice uniforms because their gear was still stuck in the storage compartment of the aforementioned crashed airplane. Illinois, on the other hand, had its proper uniforms, a good night's sleep, the motivation of postseason glory, and no lingering existential terror from being in -- we really can't stress this enough -- a CRASHED AIRPLANE. They lost by 20 anyway. If they weren't going to the NIT on merit alone -- and they almost certainly will be -- they should be banished on basic principle."
This clipping deserves better than to be stuck at the bottom of a game thread that everyone has already seen. Priceless.
In other news, John Beilein is a perfect 10-0 in Big Ten Tournament openers.
Simpson- if he can gain more fluidity with his shot mechanics and gain comfortability and consistency with shooting in stride and off the dribble. He's a little robotic with it right now but everything else is there. Defense, quickness, ball handling, and passsing ability are all very good attributes for him at this point. What a beneficial thing for him to witness and learn from Walton and his approach.
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