Big Ten Weekly Pull Up – March 6th – March 12th

What’s up guys, how did everyone enjoy that awesome Championship Weekend that we were gifted with?!? I certainly had a ball, and so did the Big Ten! Let’s jump right into the facts and stats with our last Big Ten Weekly Pull Up!: (Don’t worry, I’ll still cover the B1G during the whole entire NCAA March Madness.)

Games of the Week

Wednesday, March 8th

We jump to Wednesday for the first round of the B1G Tournament and see that there were two great games to start it out for us and we were not disappointed….well if you are an Ohio State fan, you are. The game that we got to witness was the second game of the day, and it featured the Ohio State Buckeyes taking on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Buckeyes were looking to have a pretty eventful tournament, while the Scarlet Knights were looking to just keep the game close and maybe get their first ever B1G Tourney Win. Well….Rutgers did all of that and more, actually pulling off the stunning upset to capture that first win. It was a sentimental moment in coach Steve Pikiell’s efforts to build the Rutgers program after years of struggles. Rutgers was led by Nigel Johnson who scored 21 points on 5-11 shooting from the floor and 3-6 from three off the bench, while Rutgers outrebounded Ohio State 47-31 to overcome a rough shooting performance, giving the school this moment and a matchup with NCAA Tournament-bound Northwestern. It was a very, very tough way to end the Buckeyes frustrating season, and it sure showed towards the end of the game when they couldn’t get the baskets to fall.

Friday, March 10th

There were no close, or really entertaining games on Thursday, (except for Michigan’s blowout win over Illinois after travel trouble) so we skip right to Friday where the games were all fantastic. There were four games, all of them being close and down to the wire, but I can only pick one and I picked the biggest surprise. This matchup we got to see the 8th seeded Michigan Wolverines take on the No. 1 seed Purdue Boilermakers, and boy did this game have every definition of a classic game! This game was a back-and-forth affair all the way down to the last buzzer. Both crews linked up for 14 ties and 17 lead changes in regulation alone, and they headed to overtime tied at 66 after Zak Irvin tied the game with 4.2 seconds left. The eighth-seeded Wolverines got a clutch 13 points from Irvin, including both of their overtime field goals, against the No. 1 seed Boilermakers and held Purdue to 1-of-8 shooting in the extra period. Michigan held on for the 74-70 OT upset win over the top-seeded team and were led by D.J. Wilson who tallied 26 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks. Purdue went home early from the tourney in which many people, including me, thought they would win. Michigan continued their great run and would take on Minnesota in the next round.

Saturday, March 11th

So now we move to Saturday for the semifinals of the tournament. Out of the two semi-final games being played, I went with the 8th seeded Michigan Wolverines again, as they took on the 4 seed, Minnesota Golden Gophers. Both of these teams being here was very surprising and they have both made great runs to get here.  Michigan’s Derrick Walton Jr. huddled his teammates at midcourt and told them they couldn’t let the game get away late in the second when it looked like the Gophers were coming back. Then Walton backed up those words by having a hand in 18 consecutive points, scoring 14 of those himself and assisting on the others. Down the stretch, thanks to him, the eighth-seeded Wolverines beat Minnesota 84-77 for the upset Saturday to earn a spot in the Big Ten Tournament final against Wisconsin. Michigan was lead beautifully by Derrick Walton and his career-high 29 points on 8-15 shooting, 3-8 from behind the arch, with five rebounds, and a solid nine assists. Michigan finished off the game with a powerful dunk by D.J. Wilson with a little over two minutes remaining and got everyone cheering for the Wolverines who were bound for the B1G Final!

Sunday, March 12th

Finally, the big glory is here! The Big Ten Championship game is upon us and I couldn’t be happier, the cinderella team, 8-seeded Michigan Wolverines took on the very upbeat 2-seeded Wisconsin Badgers. The Michigan basketball team crammed a lifetime worth of memories into one magical week, and they received a treasured souvenir as a keepsake. After defeating (2-seeded) and No. 24 Wisconsin 71-56 on Sunday to win their first Big Ten Tournament championship, the eighth-seeded Wolverines held high the hardware that accompanied the feat. The first half ended with Michigan up 33-32 after a very back and forth first half. Then in the second half, the tournament MVP Derrick Walton Jr. scored 22 points, D.J. Wilson added 17 and Zak Irvin had 15 for Michigan. The Wolverines shot 56 percent and were 10 for 23 from beyond the arc. This marked their first official B1G Tourney Title! (They won it previously in 1998 but had it vacated due to NCAA Sanctions.) Badgers’ Bronson Koenig scored 15 points, and Nigel Hayes & Ethan Happ added 14 apiece for the Badgers, who shot 39 percent overall and scored only 24 points after halftime.  Once again, the Wolverines ended the game and their amazing tourney overall with another huge dunk from D.J. Wilson!

Clutch Shot of the Week

https://youtu.be/SHq3_-QZz0U?t=2m13s

This weeks clutch shot goes out to yet another Michigan player; this time it’s Zak Irvin. I picked this super clutch layup because the Wolverines were down two points at 64-66 very late in the game, five seconds to be exact vs Purdue. Irvin got the ball at the top of the arch, hesitated against the defense, drove in like a pure scorer does and played the ball off the glass and in to tie the game at 66 points apiece with four seconds left. This drive and score gave Michigan all the momentum they needed to go into overtime and take Purdue by storm and finish off the game for the HUGE win! Well done Mr. Irvin.

Player of the Week

The player of the week has to go to, yet again, another Michigan Wolverines player! I picked Derrick Walton Jr. and for a really good reason as well. In their first matchup vs Illinois, Walton recorded 19 points on 7-14 shooting, 4-10 from three-point land, 1-2 from the FT line, four rebounds, five assists, and one steal for a great win. Their next game he added 12 points on 3-10 shooting, 1-5 from behind the arch, 5-5 from the charity stripe, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals for a come from behind W vs Purdue. In the semi-final matchup vs Minnesota, Walton poured in 29 points on 8-15 shooting from the field, 3-8 from three-point range, 10-10 from the FT line, five rebounds, nine assists, and two steals for the awesome win. And last, but not least, in the Championship game he recorded a solid 22 points on 6-15 shooting, 4-9 from deep, 6-6 from the line, six rebounds, seven assists, and two steals PLUS the tournament MVP! You can clearly see why Walton earned this player of the week.

Games to Keep your Eyes On

The Big Ten are sending seven teams to the NCAA Tournament this year! All their games are on my list because I am extremely interested in seeing what they will do!

#4 Purdue will face #13 Vermont
#5 Minnesota against #12 Middle Tennesee
#6 Maryland will take on #11 Xavier
#7 Michigan will go up against # 10 Oklahoma State
#8 Northwestern vs #9 Vanderbilt
#8 Wisconsin and #9 Virginia Tech
#9 Michigan State vs #8 Miami

All of these will be super interesting because I believe there might be some upsets waiting to happen. Tune in to find out!