FINAL: No. 2 IU 72, No. 7 Michigan 71

After trading buckets for much of the second half, the IU men’s basketball team found itself tied with No. 7 Michigan 66-66 with just over two minutes left Sunday and an outright Big Ten title on the line.

The Hoosiers proceeded to miss a 3-pointer, followed by back-to-back turnovers and the Wolverines pounced on the opportunity to take a five-point lead with just 52 seconds left.

But a miracle finish, fueled by six points from sophomore forward Cody Zeller in the final 41 seconds, along with two missed front ends of 1-and-1 free throw opportunities by Michigan, provided just enough for the Hoosiers to pull off the last-second victory to clinch the conference regular season title outright for the first time since 1993.

Senior guard Jordan Hulls hit a 3-pointer early from the left wing to jumpstart the Hoosiers. He sank another from long range, sandwiched by layups from junior guard Victor Oladipo and freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, and all the sudden IU held an early 10-3 lead going into the first media timeout.

It would not be until after the next media timeout more than five minutes later until IU scored again.

Michigan’s Nik Stauskas fueled a 12-0 run by the Wolverines with eight-straight points, including two 3-pointers, while Crean tried to stop the bleeding with getting minutes from bench players Remy Abell, Will Sheehey and Hanner Mosquera-Perera to no avail.

IU’s bench finished the half shooting 0-for-8 from the floor while amassing three turnovers and three personal fouls.

The Hoosiers continued to miss shots from around the rim while Michigan slowly boosted its lead despite a mediocre half of shooting at 40 percent while IU lagged behind at 35.1 percent from the floor.

A 3-pointer from national player of the year candidate Trey Burke boosted Michigan to its biggest lead of the game – and IU’s largest deficit of the season – at 27-16, but things began to click for the Hoosiers

Senior forward Christian Watford made his first shot of the half with 3:59 left and nailed a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to just six.

Zeller finally started getting shots in the lane to fall, hitting seven of IU’s last nine points in the half as the Hoosiers moved within just three points to close the half behind 33-30.

In the second half, both teams thrived from beyond the 3-point line, trading buckets as well as the lead for much of the final 20 minutes.

After going scoreless in the first half, both Sheehey and Hollowell found their rhythm, scoring 10-striaght combined points, including a 3-pointer from both players as IU held onto a one-point lead with 10:10 to play.

The teams continued to trade buckets until the closing minutes of the game when IU fell victim to the two turnovers, but Michigan couldn’t quite close out the game from the free throw line.

Glenn Robinson III went just 1-of-2 from the line with 52 seconds left, and both Tim Hardaway Jr. and Burke missed the first free throw in 1-and-1 situations in a 10-second span that kept the game within a single possession and allowed Zeller’s layup with 14 seconds to play push the Hoosiers ahead by one.

Burke drove down the floor for the final possession and missed a contested layup. Jordan Morgan found himself right under the basket for the putback, but his tip hung on the rim for a second before falling away, as Watford grabbed the rebound to seal the win and an outright conference title.


-Nathan Brown