No. 3 Seed Wolverines Head to Chicago to Defend B1G Tournament Crown

Friday, March 15

Chicago, Ill.

8:30 PM CT

Michigan

Iowa

No. 3 Seed Wolverines Head to Chicago to Defend B1G Tournament Crown

3/12/2019 3:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Tom Wywrot

» With a 15-5 conference record, Michigan earned the No. 3 seed at the Big Ten Tournament at United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
» The Wolverines have won the last two Big Ten Tournament titles after repeating four wins in four days.
» U-M will have to wait until Thursday night to learn its opponent as No. 6 seed Iowa awaits the winner of the No. 11 Illinois/No. 14 Northwestern game.
» The Maize and Blue are 7-8 in Big Ten Tournament games played at United Center.

THIS WEEK
Friday, March 15 -- vs. TBD, 8:30 p.m. CDT
(If advance) Saturday, March 16 -- vs. TBD in semifinal, 2:30 p.m. CT (CBS)
(if advance) Sunday, March 17 -- vs. TBD in championship, 2:30 p.m. CT (CBS)

The No. 10-ranked University of Michigan men's basketball team (26-5) earned the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and a double bye. The Wolverines will play their quarterfinal game at United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on Friday (March 15) against either No. 6 seed Iowa, No. 11 seed Illinois or No. 14 seed Northwestern. In a Big Ten Network broadcast, tipoff is scheduled for approximately 8:30 p.m. CST with Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst) & Andy Katz (sideline) on the call.

Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament

• Michigan heads to Chicago after having won the last two Big Ten Tournament titles.
• The Wolverines will be the No. 3 seed and earned their first double bye.
• In 2017, following a well-documented pre-tournament plane crash, U-M won four games in four days to win the title and, as the No. 8-seed, became the lowest seed ever to win.
• In 2018, U-M defended its title, winning four games in four days for a second straight year to become the first No. 5 seed to win the title.
• U-M is the third program to win back-to-back titles at the conference tournament.
• Michigan has won eight straight games in the Big Ten Tournament, tying Ohio State for the longest streak.
• U-M has defeated the No. 1 seed in the last three straight Big Ten Tournaments. U-M defeated top-seeds Indiana (72-69) in 2016, Purdue (74-70 OT) in 2017 and Michigan State (75-64) in 2018.
• Michigan has won 12 straight tournament-opening games -- the most of any major conference tournament team. John Beilein has never lost an opening contest, winning 11 consecutive.

The B1G Envelope, Please

• Michigan had five players honored with All-Big Ten selections. That is the most for U-M since the 1984-85 seasons, 34 years ago. U-M's All-Big Ten list: Ignas Brazdeikis, second team (coaches and media); Zavier Simpson, second team (C&M); Jordan Poole, Honorable Mention (C&M); Jon Teske, Honorable Mention (C&M) and Charles Matthews, Honorable Mention (M).
• Ignas Brazdeikis was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year by both the coaches and media. He is the first Wolverine to earn the honor since 2012 (Trey Burke). He was also a member of the Big Ten's All-Freshman team -- the first selection since 2014 (Derrick Walton Jr.).
• Zavier Simpson was selected to the Big Ten's All-Defensive team -- the first selection since 2013 (Jordan Morgan) and just the third in program history (Ekpe Udoh, 2008).
• Isaiah Livers was U-M's Big Ten Sportsmanship Honoree.

These Are Just Cool

• Zavier Simpson has not missed a game in three seasons -- a streak of 110 straight.
• Jon Teske has not missed a game in two seasons -- a streak of 72 straight.
• Simpson (381) moved into 11th all-time on U-M's assist list, passing Manny Harris (366; 2007-10). Simpson needs 17 to crack the all-time top 10 (Dion Harris, 398; 2004-07) and 19 to become the 10th Wolverine to reach 400 in a career.
• Simpson (118) became the 23rd Wolverine to reach 100 steals in a career. He needs 17 more to reach the top 10 all-time at U-M -- Thad Garner (1979-82) and Dion Harris (2004-07) are 10th at 135.
• Matthews (888) needs 112 more points to become the 55th Wolverine to score 1,000 career points.
• Jordan Poole (105) is the 27th Wolverine to make 100 three-pointers in a career.

This and That

• Charles Matthews has missed U-M's last three games with a sprained right ankle suffered against Michigan State (Feb. 24). He continues to be listed as day-to-day. He missed his first career game at U-M against Nebraska (Feb. 28), snapping a streak of 69 straight games. During Matthews' time at Michigan, U-M has gone 59-13.
• Ignas Brazdeikis leads U-M in scoring at 15.0 points per game. The last Wolverine freshman to lead the team in scoring was Trey Burke, who scored 14.8 points per game in the 2012-13 season.
• For the second time this season, Brazdeikis has posted three straight games with 20-plus points. He has scored in double figures over his last six games. He leads U-M with 26 double-figure games including 10 20-plus point games.
• After not recording an assist against Minnesota (Jan. 22) at Crisler Center, Zavier Simpson has dished 99 (7.6 apg) dimes in the regular-season closing 13 games. During the late-season push, he recorded four games with double-digit dimes. He had a career-best 12, twice -- against Ohio State (Jan. 29) and at Minnesota (Feb. 21). He added 10 more against Nebraska (Feb. 28) and at Maryland (March 3).
• Simpson is second in the Big Ten in assists (6.3) with 194. He leads the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.2 (189A to 59 TOs). The last U-M player to record 200-plus assists was Trey Burke in 2012-13 (260).
• Jon Teske leads U-M with six double-doubles this season.
• With Matthews missing the last three games, Isaiah Livers has returned to the starting lineup and posted two double-figure scoring games. Prior to those two performances, he had six total double-digit games in his 26 contests.
• In those three starts, Livers has averaged 9.3 points and 5.6 rebounds, while making seven three-pointers. He added his first career double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) against Nebraska (Feb. 28). Livers started 22 games as a freshman.
• With Livers sliding over to replace Matthews, it has opened a spot for a new five man to back up Teske. After a coaching staff vote and discussion, freshman Colin Castleton got the call and responded with a career-best 11 points (5-for-7 FGA) and three rebounds against Nebraska (Feb. 28) in nine minutes. He followed playing a solid five minutes guarding Maryland's Bruno Fernando (March 3), adding two points on an inside dunk as well as nine minutes of action at Michigan State (March 9).