WASHINGTON — The Big Ten Tournament concludes Sunday in D.C. Here's a look at the championship game.
No. 2 Wisconsin vs. No. 8 Michigan
2 p.m. CT, CBS
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What a championship bout we have in the nation's capital. Michigan is the feel-good story of the week after going through that aborted-takeoff nightmare on Wednesday and then winning three games in three days and doing so in convincing fashion. Wisconsin, meanwhile, seems to have suddenly realized its full potential and grabbed impressive back-to-back wins, all the while looking like the preseason favorites they were projected to be.
The Wolverines are as hot as can be right now, winners of three straight here in Washington, four straight dating back to the regular-season finale and nine of 11 overall. After clubbing Illinois on Thursday, Michigan has rattled off wins against regular-season champ Purdue and equally hot Minnesota to advance to the title game. But it's how the Wolverines are playing that should worry not just the Badgers but any team that has to face the maize and blue in next week's NCAA tournament.
Derrick Walton Jr. is a playing as good as anyone in the country right now and making it look like had the season lasted a couple more weeks he might've challenged Caleb Swanigan for Big Ten Player of the Year honors. In Saturday's win over Minnesota, Walton was electric. He scored 29 points, handed out nine assists, grabbed five rebounds, hit three 3-pointers and went a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. He's been a major part of a dominating Michigan fast break, with the defense causing 40 turnovers in three Big Ten Tournament games.
The Badgers, meanwhile, have finally turned things on at the perfect time after an ugly stretch of basketball near the end of the regular season that featured five losses in six games. Wisconsin blew out Minnesota by 17 points in the regular season finale and has since beat Indiana by 10 and blitzed Northwestern by 28. The offense has returned for a Badger team that was struggling to get consistent scoring from its stars. While Bronson Koenig finished with just eight points on 3-for-12 shooting Saturday, he got the Wisconsin rout started with the first five points in that game. Nigel Hayes had 18 against the Cats, Ethan Happ had 16 and Zak Showalter had 10. It was an all-around mauling, as the Badgers shot better than 50 percent after halftime and knocked down 12 triples in the game. That's a day after hitting 10 3-pointers in the win over Indiana.
Big Ten
Defense, though, is Wisconsin's annual strong suit, and these two games in D.C. have been no different. Indiana nearly hit the century mark on Thursday against Iowa but was held to just 60 points against the Badgers. And after Northwestern scored a combined 155 points in Big Ten Tournament wins over Rutgers and Maryland, it mustered just 48 on ice-cold shooting against that Wisconsin defense. The Badgers have been the top defensive team in the league all season long, so if there's any team that can cool off the Wolverines — and maybe there isn't — it's these guys.