Burke outduels Zeller in round 2

He is a foot apart in stature from his fellow Big Ten freshman, but the two have combined to win nine Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards in their first year of college basketball.

The two prohibitive favorites to capture the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award took the court Wednesday evening, and this time, it was Michigan’s freshman guard Trey Burke — not IU’s Cody Zeller — who made the necessary plays to lead his team to victory.

Behind 10 of Michigan’s first 13 points, Burke led No. 22/23 Michigan (17-6, 7-3) to a 68-56 win against No. 20 Indiana (17-6, 5-6).

The start by Burke allowed Michigan to score the game’s first 13 points, which was a deficit the Hoosiers could not dig themselves out of.

“When you are playing against a team like Michigan that’s as good as they are, you can’t spot them that kind of lead,” IU Coach Tom Crean said.

On a night when Crean called his starting lineup a joke, Zeller had a season-high four turnovers and couldn’t find the same rhythm he had in his 8-of-10 effort from the floor back on Jan. 5 against Michigan.

The game had a similar feel to the Jan. 5 meeting between these two teams in which IU jumped out to a double digit first half lead before Michigan made its comeback.

“They got out to a quick start (in Bloomington), and we got out to a quick start tonight,” Burke said. “But we knew that it wasn’t going to be a 45-point blowout. We knew they were going to comeback, hit some big shots.”

In IU’s 73-71 win against Michigan on Jan. 5, Burke shot 26 percent from the field (4-of-15), which is his worst performance in the Big Ten all season.

That effort was nowhere to be found Wednesday as Burke hit his first four shots from the field.

The night would not be all smooth for Burke after scoring 10 points in the game’s first 5:21. He would be kept scoreless until the 5:08 mark of the second half.

The 30-minute scoring drought came with IU putting 6-foot-9-inch junior forward Christian Watford on the smaller Burke.

The bigger Watford caused problems for the 5-foot-11-inch freshman, but he would not be denied in the game’s waning minutes.

With Michigan up 49-45 with 5:08 remaining, Burke hit a driving layup on
Watford.

Burke followed that up with two free throws, but after IU cut the lead to 52-50 with 3:20 remaining, the freshman would once again make a play.

IU, looking to make a stop to get the ball back and potentially take the lead, allowed Burke to penetrate the baseline and find Michigan guard Tim Hardaway, Jr. for a 3-pointer from the left corner.

On Michigan’s next possession, the Wolverines’ Stu Douglass hit another 3-pointer stretching the lead to eight and ending IU’s comeback bid.

“We were looking for some action, and we wanted to go right back to what worked before,” Michigan Coach John Beilein said. “Tim wasn’t open, but Tim made one more (pass) and saw Stu (Douglass), and it was really important everybody made the right play.”

Four free throws from Burke in the game’s final 90 seconds would ensure the victory, but it was the play from him on Michigan’s final three field goals that made the difference.

“We had it right there, and they were able to knock those big shots down,” IU junior guard Jordan Hulls said. “Credit to them for doing that.”