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In one of the most thrilling Big Ten matchups in recent memory, Michigan outlasted a late push from Maryland to defeat the Terrapins, 81-80. The win sends the Wolverines into the Big Ten Tournament championship, where they will face the 5-seed Wisconsin Badgers.
Saturday afternoon's matchup between the second-seeded Terrapins and third-seeded Wolverines was everything you would expect from a matchup of teams just one seed line apart. Maryland secured the 2-seed after Michigan's loss to Michigan State on Sunday afternoon, but Michigan got revenge in the Big Ten Tournament.
Nimari Burnett and Tre Donaldson got Michigan started offensively in the early going, while Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf dominated in the paint by securing rebounds.
Michigan trailed for most of the first half, but a late surge from the Wolverines gave Dusty May's squad a four-point advantage at the break.
Four Wolverines finished the first half with seven points or more. But most notably, the Wolverines absolutely controlled the glass, securing 27 rebounds to Maryland's 12. Derik Queen was a force down in the paint, and Michigan turned the ball over nine times in the first half, but nine first-half rebounds and 10 second-chance points kept the Wolverines in front of the higher-seeded Terrapins at the break.
In the second half, Michigan opened up on an 11-0 run to build a 15-point lead with 17:16 to go in the contest.
Interestingly, in Friday night's win over Purdue, Michigan broke a bad habit. Typically, the Wolverines have grown accustomed to building a lead but allowing the opponent to work its way back into the game and make things interesting toward the end.
That was not the case against the Boilermakers on Friday night, but the Wolverines reverted back to that bad habit on Saturday. After building a 15-point lead, Michigan allowed a 10-0 run, which brought the Terrapins back to within four.
Michigan then stretched the lead back to 11 on multiple occasions, but Maryland continued to fight, and the Terrapins regained the lead with 8:21 to play in the game. From that point on, neither team led by more than three the rest of the way.
With just seconds remaining, Maryland was down by one with the ball. The Terps inbounded the ball to Derik Queen, who had 29 points at the time, but he was fouled on the perimeter by Rubin Jones.
Queen sank both of his free throws to give Maryland a one-point lead.
But then, Tre Donaldson took over. Donaldson, with five seconds remaining on the game clock, went coast-to-coast and converted on a left-handed layup with 0.4 seconds left to give Michigan the victory.
Michigan will now head to the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the first time since 2019. The Wolverines will face Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. CBS will air the game live.
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