Ohio State avoids late race to beat Michigan 68-67 to advance to Big Ten Championship



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INDIANAPOLIS – As the Duane Washington Jr. 3 pointers bounced off the ledge, Judge Sueing stepped under the basket, stood up and rolled it up. Hastily, he bounced off the ground and dropped the ball onto the glass and through the hoop. The screams of Sueing, the Ohio State bench and the scarlet and gray fans in attendance echoed throughout Lucas Oil Stadium.

Team

1

2

FINAL

# 5 STATE OF OHIO 26 42 68

# 1 MICHIGAN

27

40

67

In that game alone, Sueing put the Buckeyes ahead, 61-50, with 5:17 left and knocked out Franz Wagner, the Michigan wing who is expected to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft in a few months. At that point, if you let your mind wander, it started to feel a little more real than at any time over the past few days that Ohio State could really pull it off and advance to the World Championship. Big Ten tournament.

Five minutes of action – and a bit of drama – later, it’s become a reality. The Buckeyes, the fifth seed, eliminated first seed Michigan 68-67 on Saturday afternoon to advance to the final game of the conference tournament.

Sueing’s and-one arrived in the middle of a 7-point run that saw Ohio State extend a six-point lead to 13 points over EJ Liddell’s free throws with 4:19 to go. Michigan, with starting center Hunter Dickinson scoring five points in 40 seconds, was seven points behind the Buckeyes with 2:44 remaining. Then it got worse.

OHIO STATE

STAT

MICHIGAN

68

POINTS

67

24 to 57 years old (42.1%)

FGM-FGA (PCT.)

20 to 57 years old (35.1%)

12 to 22 (54.5%)

3 PM-3PA (PCT.)

6 to 19 (34.6%)

8 to 14 (57.1%)

FTM-FTA (PCT.)

21-23 (91.3%)

9

TURNED TOWARDS

2

37

TOTAL DISCOUNTS

36

ten

OFFENSIVE DISCOUNTS

ten

27

DEFENSIVE DISCOUNTS

26

14

BENCH POINTS

9

7

BLOCKS

5

0

FLIGHTS

3

13

ASSISTS

14

The Buckeyes couldn’t get over second-half attacking difficulties that put them in danger of potentially losing to Minnesota and Purdue in their two previous tournament games. Liddell turned it over twice in the final two minutes, putting Michigan at four points with less than a minute to go. Chaundee Brown had a triple with 48 seconds left to reduce the Ohio State lead to 68-67. CJ Walker came out of bounds with 28 seconds left, but Mike Smith missed a jumper who could have won him to finish the game.

The shootout in which the Ohio State-Michigan opener developed didn’t happen again on Saturday – at least in the first half.

Ohio State shot 30.3 percent from the ground and went 0 for 4 from the free throw line, but his 3-point 6-for-13 mark and eight offensive boards kept the Underdogs six points within striking distance. . Michigan, conversely, did most of their damage from the foul line (9 of 10) while struggling from outside the arc (2 of 9). He only touched 29.6% of field goals in the first half as well.

Dickinson, the 7-foot-1 cross from Juwan Howard, had what was apparently an injury scare in the game’s early possessions, calling for a replacement. According to the CBS show, however, he hit a funny bone. Once back in the action, his very low presence helped Michigan go blow for blow midway through the first half. A four-and-a-half-minute Ohio State basketball streak – which ended in an EJ Liddell layup with 1:13 left – saw Michigan grab the lead at half-time. But he entered the break only, 27-26, due to a Seth Towns triple with 32 ticks remaining.

Then: Ohio State faces the winner of Illinois-Iowa in the Big Ten Championship on Sunday. The game will begin at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised on CBS.

Other Notes

  • Senior forward Kyle Young was sidelined with a concussion. He continues to follow daily medical protocols, and it’s unclear when he might be back on the pitch for the Buckeyes.

  • Chris Holtmann turned to Musa Jallow, a fourth year wing, as the fifth starter in place of Young. With CJ Walker coming off the bench, he went with Duane Washington Jr., Justin Ahrens, Musa Jallow, Judge Sueing and EJ Liddell.

  • This week, Holtmann won more than one match in a conference tournament for the first time in his career. He also earned his 200th victory as a head coach on Friday.

  • It was the second game of the season between Ohio State and Michigan. They met once in the regular season and the Wolverines came out on top, 92-87.

  • If the state of Ohio passes a sweep of the season from Michigan, its players receive gold jerseys. These were implemented after the 2020-2021 season. However, as the Buckeyes have already fallen to Juwan Howard’s side on February 21, they couldn’t win those gold jerseys regardless of Saturday’s result.

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