Michigan
19-2,14-2Big Ten
Michigan State
14-11,8-11Big Ten
Wolverines Clinch Big Ten Championship with Win over Spartans
3/4/2021 9:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball
» Michigan defeated rival Michigan State to clinch the 2021 Big Ten championship.
» The Wolverines shot 50 percent (26-for-52) from the field.
» Franz Wagner scored 19 points with four three-pointers.
» Hunter Dickinson notched his fifth career double-double.
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Center)
Score: #2 Michigan 69, Michigan State 50
Records: U-M (19-2, 14-2 B1G), MSU (14-11, 8-11 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 7 -- at Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), 4:30 p.m. (TV: CBS)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 2-ranked University of Michigan men's basketball team clinched the 2020-21 Big Ten Conference championship with a 69-50 victory over Michigan State on Thursday night (March 4) at Crisler Center.
The Wolverines shot 50 percent (26-for-52) from the field with Franz Wagner scoring a team-best 19 points with four three-pointers, while Hunter Dickinson added 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for his fifth career double-double.
The senior trio of Eli Brooks, Isaiah Livers and Mike Smith scored nine points each with Smith dishing out five assists, Livers grabbing seven rebounds and adding two steals, and Brooks pulling down five boards.
Michigan (19-2, 14-2 Big Ten) outrebounded MSU, 34-28, and kept the Spartans 0-for-9 from three-point range, while the Wolverines made seven three-pointers.
The Wolverines jumped out to a 7-0 lead with four straight points from Smith and a triple from Brooks. Michigan used seven straight points from Dickinson, capped off with an and-one play, to take an 18-10 lead with 9:45 left in the first half. The U-M offense started to cool with under eight minutes to play, and MSU went on a 6-0 run to cut the Wolverines' lead to two at 18-16.
Michigan worked itself to an 11-point lead on four points from Brandon Johns Jr. to go into the halftime break with a 39-28 lead over the Spartans (14-11, 8-11 Big Ten). Brooks led the Wolverines with nine points, while Wagner added eight.
The Wolverines opened the second half on a 10-0 run, finished by an offensive board from Brooks that led to a Dickinson dunk and an Michigan State timeout with U-M leading, 49-32, with 15:23 remaining. Michigan strung together its second double-digit run of the half, going on a 12-2 spurt over 6:08 and taking a 61-36 lead at the under-eight minute media timeout.
With MSU going more than eight minutes without a field goal, Michigan firmed up the win and cleared its bench for the senior class.
Michigan and Michigan State will close out the 2020-21 regular season Sunday (March 7) in a 4:30 p.m. game at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich.
