Five seed MI let a late six point lead slip away and needed overtime to beat 12 seed Iowa 77-71 yesterday afternoon in the Big Ten Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
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“They can play big or small”.
Delany opted to move the Big Ten tournament to this week so that he could get it into Madison Square Garden in NY, and Izzo wasn’t a fan when the proposal was first floated prior to the season.
“That was pretty fantastic and thank goodness for that first quarter and that good start because we needed all of that to finish this game”, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. This is an interesting matchup of two historically stellar programs who are experiencing down years.
Wisconsin and Maryland kicked things off. They both come in 3-2 in there last 5 games. They got only two points, on a pair of throws, after that.
The second half featured more of the same, as Iowa was in the bonus at the 14:09 mark of the second half.
Michigan’s efficiency numbers are stronger on offense (41st to 76th) and defense (ninth to 36th).
It crept back up against MI on Thursday, as the Wolverines shot just 56.3 percent from the line.
A Smith layup would pull Penn State within four points, 24-20, and spark a 15-0 run over the next four minutes.
An honorable mention again goes to sophomore guard Zavier Simpson, who scored 12 points, had six assists and two steals.
“As you are filling out your bracket, you’re going to like MI, because we think of them as an elite offensive team”, Greenberg said.
Prediction: Penn State wins. We don’t know yet how any of this will shake out, but it’s made for some uncomfortable post-game press conferences, when Izzo has declined to answer any questions after games, probably wisely. Last time, I think he would slip but he would be too close to the ballhandler, and all (the defender would) have to do was scramble out to him. “I think there will be a lot of Michigan fans here, but I expect Michigan State fans to travel well”. The Michigan Wolverines are averaging 74.3 points on 47.2 percent shooting and allowing 63.4 points on 43.6 percent shooting.
No.5 MI vs No.4 Nebraska.
Nebraska and MI can be heard on the Husker Sports Network, including 590 AM (Omaha), 1400 AM (Lincoln) and 880 AM (Lexington). The All-Big Ten player Ethan Happ scored a nice 14 points and grabbed seven boards. This team has a bright future and it sets up a magnificent plot for the start of the 2018-19 season of College Hoops.
Prediction: Ohio State Wins. I thought long and hard about taking IN here but Purdue is just too solid all-around. Michigan State is on fire and Wisconsin is inspired. This seems extreme, but the ACC does not have an accelerated schedule and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski mentioned his team’s fatigue following Monday’s loss at Virginia Tech because the Blue Devils had endured a stretch of four games in eight days.
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Prediction: Michigan gets the upset win. The fact that it’s this week, with only the end of regular seasons in the major conference and a few mid-or low-major conference championships as competition.
