Michigan Basketball: Wolverines clinch top-five seed in 2018 Big Ten Tournament
By Zac Snyder
After securing a road win at Penn State tonight, the Michigan basketball team is assured of a top-five seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament.
It wasn’t easy but the Michigan Wolverines are leaving Penn State with a win on the hardwood. The Wolverines saw their eight point halftime lead not only disappear early in the second half, they found themselves down as their struggled offensively while Penn State found their groove.
A three-point play by Tony Carr gave Penn State a 39-38 lead with 16:12 remaining, their first lead since it was 7-5 about five and a half minutes into the game. But as we’ve seen at other times this season, Michigan showed their toughness to not only weather the storm but right the ship entirely. The Wolverines were able to make a couple more plays and hit a few more shots as both teams appeared to be running out of gas. Hitting nine of ten free throws down the stretch kept the Nittany Lions at arm’s length to close out the 72-63 win.
Last weekend’s win over Ohio State ended any doubt there may have been about Michigan’s resume for the NCAA Tournament but tonight’s win over Penn State has major implications for Michigan in next week’s Big Ten Tournament. With tonight’s win, Michigan is assured of no lower than the five seed as they look to defend their conference tournament championship from last season.
Prior to tonight’s game the Wolverines could have been anywhere from the four to the six seed. Now assured of a top-five seed, Michigan will avoid any of the top three seeded teams until a possible meeting in the conference semis.
Michigan could still end up the four seed but need a win at Maryland in the regular season finale combined with a Penn State win over Nebraska. Michigan and Nebraska have identical 12-5 records in conference play but Nebraska holds a tiebreaker with the head-to-head win.
Getting the fourth seed means getting a double-bye rather than having to play an additional game as a five seed but doesn’t change the path through the bracket. A victorious five seed advances to face the four seed in the quarterfinals, with the winner facing a potential meeting with the top seed.
That’s all a more favorable scenario than falling to the six seed and facing a potential quarterfinal game against either Michigan State, Purdue or Ohio State.
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The five seed will begin conference tournament play next Thursday, March 1 against the winner of the game between the 12 seed and 13. The 5/11/13 winner advances to play the four seed on Friday, March 2.