Saturday was the first time Michigan played in a Big Ten tournament semifinal since 2004. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, they will not be making their first trip to the Big Ten tournament championship game since 1998. They were eliminated today by Ohio State, the top seed, in a 68-61 loss to the Buckeyes.
The first half of this game was back and forth with neither team leading by more than four points. Michigan's largest lead was two points, and OSU held a 31-27 advantage at halftime.
In the second half, OSU scored the first seven points to continue a run that began before halftime. In all, it was an 11-0 run for the Buckeyes, as the score was once 27-27 and became 38-27. At this point it looked like the game was going to become a blowout, but Michigan battled back and cut the score down to 47-45.
It would never get any closer than this because OSU proceeded to go on a 16-0 run. It all started when a questionable call was made about who touched a ball that went out. The Buckeyes' Jared Sullinger got the call (it was ruled Michigan's Evan Smotrycz touched it) and that was all she wrote for Michigan. OSU took over from here and never really looked back. Michigan did make a late run to cut the deficit from 18 to four points, but the Wolverines simply ran out of time and OSU won, 68-61.
This loss can be attributed to Michigan's poor shooting and inability to guard Ohio State's big three of Sullinger, Jon Diebler and William Buford. The Wolverines had a shooting percentage of 37.3 from the field and an even worse 31 percent from three-point land. For OSU, Sullinger had 14 points and Diebler and Buford each had 16. As a team, the Buckeyes shot the ball 46.3 percent from the field.
Ohio State advances to the championship game of the Big Ten tournament with this win. The Buckeyes will face either Michigan State or Penn State, which play in the second semifinal later today. Here is a look at the updated Big Ten tournament bracket:
No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 4 Michigan, 68-61
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No. 7 Michigan State (beat Purdue, 74-56, in quarterfinals) vs. No. 6 Penn State (beat Wisconsin, 36-33, in quarterfinals)
For more on the 2011 Big Ten tournament, check out SB Nation Detroit's StoryStream.