At the beginning of the, not many expected Michigan basketball to finish third in the Big Ten Regular season.
Even fewer expected Michigan basketball to win the Big Ten tournament championship, especially Wolverines fans.
At the start of the week, the hope was that Michigan could play some good basketball, but they did much more than that. The Wolverines beat three ranked teams, defeating Purdue by 18, before beating Maryland by one, and Wisconsin, 62-58, to win the program's first Big Ten tournament championship since 2018.
It wasn't pretty and midway through the second half, Michigan looked cooked, exactly as they looked last Sunday against Michigan State.
The Wolverines were down by 11. Will Tschetter, a Juwan Howard recruit, flipped the game on its head with two 3-pointers. The first came with Michigan down 11. The second was when the Wolverines were down by seven, and things were once again teetering.
Danny Wolf tied it with a couple of layups, then Mr. Clutch, Tre Donaldson, hit a go-ahead 3-pointer. He also made two free throws to seal the win after Vlad Goldin put Michigan in front at the charity stripe with 46 seconds left.
Michigan registered two stops after an offensive rebound. Goldin made an incredible contest, and Tre Donaldson made two free throws to seal the win.
They say defense wins championships, and it certainly did in this game. Wisconsin didn't make a field goal in the last 3:55 or score in the final 1:34. Even more impressive is the fact that Michigan held John Tonje to nine points on 1-of-14 shooting. Wisconsin also shot 18 percent from 3-point range.
Goldin and Donaldson each scored 11 points in the win. Tre also had eight assists. Danny Wolf scored eight and Tschetter had six huge points. Here are the gut reactions to the Michigan 2025 Big Ten tournament championship.
Gut reactions
- Maybe people will stop doubting that Dusty May is an elite head coach/leader. He's the first, first-time head coach to win the Big Ten tournament title and he earned his salary. He drew up the winning plays in the huddle Saturday and Sunday.
- I am so freaking happy for Will Tschetter. His 3-pointers sparked the comeback. His defense and six rebounds were critical too.
- Vlad Goldin made winning plays at the end. His rim protection bothered Wisconsin all game.
- Nimari Burnett was incredible. Call him the Tonje stopper.
- If Michigan had fewer than 10 turnovers, it can beat anyone in college basketball.
- This team goes as Tre Donaldson goes.
- This team just cemented itself as one of those great teams, like the ones we remember under John Beilein. A run in the NCAA tournament would be great, but when you hang a banner, you get a special place in program history.