Tough Defense, Free Throw Shooting Carry Wolverines to Big Ten Tourney Title

Michigan won its third title in the last eight seasons as Donaldson, Goldin, Cason stepped up against Wisconsin with game fading out of reach. And why the No. 5 NCAA seeding will motivate.

Photo Courtesy of University of Michigan Photography

Dusty May has pushed all the right buttons, said all the right things, to win the Big Ten championship in his first year with the Wolverines — a last-place team just last year.

By Steve Kornacki

How did Michigan beat Wisconsin, 59-53, to win the Big Ten Tournament championship Sunday -- after trailing by 11 with 13 minutes to play?

The Wolverines were tougher, plain and simple.

There is no metric for toughness and so analysts have trouble explaining it.

But it’s why 10 of the last 12 wins by Michigan were by four points or fewer.

It’s why the Wolverines – after shooting a respectable .717 on free throws in the regular season – made 42-of-48 (.875) in the three wins in Indianapolis this weekend. Vlad Goldin, Tre Donaldson and Danny Wolf combined to make all six from the free throw line in the last 46.6 seconds against the Badgers to break a 53-all tie and then put the game away.

Toughness was why No. 22 Michigan was able to go from those 11 points down with 13:11 to play to pound the No. 18 Badgers and outscore them, 32-15, the rest of the way.

It’s why Wisconsin’s John Tonje scored 32 against Michigan State’s vaunted defense and 26 against UCLA’s solid defenders in his first two tournament games, and scored nine on 1-for-14 shooting against the Wolverines. Hey, the entire Badger team shot only .216 from the field and 17.9 percent on three-pointers.

It’s why Michigan out-rebounded a No. 11 Maryland team with a formidable front line, 47-18, in Saturday’s semi-finals.

It’s why the Wolverines lost to Purdue by 27 points Jan. 24 – getting totally humiliated – and then beat the Boilermakers, 75-73, Feb. 11 in Ann Arbor and waxed No. 20 Purdue, 86-68, in the conference tournament opener.

And it’s why they will use being seeded an unbelievably low No. 5 in the NCAA Tournament as just more fuel for a team picked No. 9 in the Big Ten preseason poll –only to finish tied for second place before winning the tournament while playing against three higher-ranked teams.

Either the NCAA selection committee is blind or didn’t see the Big Ten tourney. Wisconsin got a No. 3 seed and both Purdue and Maryland received No. 4 seeds. What do those three teams have in common? Each of them lost to Michigan in the tournament and either finished tied with them in the regular season standings (Maryland) or finished behind them.

The Wolverines got the same No.5 seed that regular season also-ran and tournament first-game loser Oregon received. Really? And, if you wondered, Michigan beat the Ducks 80-76, the only time they played this season.

But, no matter. It’s just more motivation for a team that picks it off trees like low-hanging fruit.

I’m not sure why the experts – none of the ESPN talking heads picked Michigan to reach the Elite Eight – give it so little respect.

Maybe they don’t want to believe a team could go from last place in the Big Ten (3-17) in 2023-24 to going 3-0 in the conference tournament the next year. Dusty May became the only first-year coach at a school to win the Big Ten tourney since the format debuted in 1998 – when the Wolverines won it before vacating the title for recruiting sanctions.

And it’s not a matter of having a rare strong season and getting the sudden success questioned. Michigan just won its third Big Ten tournament in the last eight. And over the last 10 tourneys, the Wolverines have won three (also 2017 and 2018) while no other school has won more than two.

But know this, they are not going to rest on their laurels.

“It’s hard to be too happy because we have so much more to do!” May told Brian Boesch on the Michigan Radio Network.

Tough players make for tough teams coached by tough men.

Donaldson, after his semi-final heroics against Maryland with the game-winning drive to score, had zero points in the first half against Wisconsin and got into foul trouble. So, his response was scoring 11 in the second half – matching Goldin for the game team-high – and nailing a clutch trey with 1:54 to play for the lead before grabbing a defensive rebound and going down court to get fouled and make a pair at the line. He also had eight assists to only two turnovers.

L.J. Cason was called upon to lead the team with Donaldson cheering for him on the bench, and stepped up to play like an absolute tiger. The freshman had eight points (all in the second half) and five rebounds. May said Cason was “so tough” and provided the “jolt” needed for the entire team to finish strong.

“We were going to keep going,” Cason said of facing the double-digit deficit. “We’ve been down before and we know what we’re capable of.”

He noted that the entire team was well aware that Tonje had averaged 29 points in the tournament and looked to take away his right hand with positioning and aggressiveness, adding, “We focused on him.”

And pretty much snuffed him out. Shoot, Cason played just 15 minutes compared to Tonje’s 32, and got outscored by him by only one point.

Wolf also had eight points and eight rebounds, a little below his norm, but provided just enough.

He scored the final two points of the 11-2 run Michigan had to close out the game.

It was crunch time, tough time, and the Wolverines knew what to do.