Big Ten Semifinals Recap

No. 1 Illinois 74 No. 5 Michigan 60

The Illini train keeps rolling. Illinois jumped to a 15-5 lead and led from wire to wire. Michigan crawled to within 37-34 by holding the Illini scoreless for 7:45 stretch spanning the halves. The Wolverines eventually sliced the margin to two, but Illinois slowly rebuilt the lead throughout the second half to advance to the championship game for the second straight year.

The win pushed the Illini streak to 12, their longest since they opened the 1989-90 season 12-0. Illinois used its speed and quickness to force Michigan into 15 turnovers. Illinois had a 23-4 advantage in points off turnovers. The Illini were also able to get their fast break in high gear bolting out to a 15-4 first half advantage in fast break points. Illinois finished with a 19-12 edge on the break.

Illinois was forced to play without starting forward Roger Powell, who was kneed in the head in the victory over Indiana on Friday. He is expected to return for the final against Wisconsin. James Augustine slid over to forward and Nick Smith moved into Augustine’s center position. Augustine had arguably his best game of the season. The sophomore from suburban Chicago hit the Wolverines for 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Dee Brown paced the Illinois attack with 21 points and four assists and Luther Head had 12. That the Illinois won with a sub par game from Deron Williams was particularly impressive. Williams finished with seven points and seven assists on three of 11 from the floor.

Michigan will now have to sit and wait to see if they get in the dance. The likelihood is that they are going to wind up in the NIT. If the Big Ten does get a fourth team, the Wolverines should be the one dancing. Although Iowa finished fourth in the regular season, Michigan won two of three in their head to head meetings, including in Friday quarterfinals. The loss against the Illini dropped Tommy Amaker’s career record against Illinois to 0-8.

The future is bright in Ann Arbor. Bernard Robinson Jr. who will leave the Wolverines after their postseason had 15 points and five rebounds. The rest of Michigan’s key contributors for the in their loss to Illinois are either freshmen or sophomores. Courtney Sims had a very encouraging freshman season and led the Big Ten in blocked shots. Sims posted ten points, 12 rebounds and four blocks against the Illini. After struggling throughout the year, Daniel Horton started to reassert himself late in the season. The 2003 Big Ten freshman of the year had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists in the semifinal and freshman Dion Harris scored 11.

No. 2 Wisconsin 68 No. 3 Michigan State 66

After staging a classic in the final week of the regular season, a Michigan State-Wisconsin match up was the game Big Ten fans were pointing to once the pairings were set. Wisconsin once again used the formula of riding Devin Harris and Mike Wilkinson to victory. Harris finished with 21 points and Wilkinson hit for 20 and nine rebounds as Wisconsin defeated MSU for the fifth straight time.

Michigan State’s hot shooting continued as the Spartans bolted out to a 7-0 lead to begin the game. A thunderous dunk by Alan Anderson pushed the Spartan lead to ten and seemed to wake up the Badgers. Wilkinson kept Wisconsin in the game early by scoring the Badgers first seven points. Harris finally woke up with 5:39 left in the half with two free throws. A three pointer 18 seconds later and Harris was off. Harris took the game over when it counted with eights points including two three pointers in the final three minutes to push the Badgers into the finals for the first time.

The last three minutes were made for an instant classic. Seven ties or lead changes drove fans from both teams out of their seats. Harris’ two big threes gave the Badgers the lead and set up a thrilling end. With Harris at the line and the Badgers nursing a one point lead, Bo Ryan had to be feeling pretty good about his team’s chance to extend the lead to three. Harris missed the front end of a one-and-one. After a Michigan State time out with 18.6 seconds left, the Spartans Kelvin Torbert missed a mid range jumper and Wisconsin’s Zach Morley was put on the line after grabbing the rebound. Morley split the charitables giving MSU one last chance. With the Spartans down two, Maurice Ager grabbed the Morley missed free throw and drove the length of the court. Ager’s jumper near the free throw line seemed to be online but missed just enough to send the Badgers to the title game for a grudge match with Illinois.

The Illini won in Champaign in the Big Ten’s top seeds second meeting after the Badgers pounded Illinois in Madison early in the Big Ten Season.

Michigan State used a more balanced offense. Paul Davis led the Spartans with 16 points and five rebounds, Shannon Brown had 15 and Chris Hill had 11 points and six assists.