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Michigan basketball in Big Ten tournament: Who Wolverines play; time, TV and more

Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read

The regular season is over for Michigan basketball, and there (very) small chance at the NCAA tournament begins with Wednesday's opening round of the Big Ten tournament in Minneapolis.

The Wolverines (8-23, 3-17 Big Ten) finished in last place in the conference and have the 14th seed in the tournament. They will take on No. 11-seed Penn State (15-16, 9-11) in the second of two games Wednesday night at the Target Center.

That game will be available on Peacock, NBC's steaming-only service. The game can be heard on WWJ-AM (950) and WTKA-AM (1050).

Season series

The lone Michigan-Penn State game this season was played in Philadelphia in one of the famed settings in the sport, The Palestra. On Jan. 7, U-M coughed up an early double-digit lead and lost, 79-73. Terrance Williams II had 24 points, but the Wolverines had 19 turnovers and missed seven free throws (13 of 20).

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Ace Baldwin Jr. led the Nittany Lions with 25 points that day. Kanye Clary added 18 points. Clary is the team's leading scorer (16.7 points per game), followed by Baldwin (14.2).

Michigan guard Nimari Burnett looks to pass against Nebraska guard C.J. Wilcher during the second half of U-M's 85-70 loss to Nebraska on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at Crisler Center.
Michigan guard Nimari Burnett looks to pass against Nebraska guard C.J. Wilcher during the second half of U-M's 85-70 loss to Nebraska on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at Crisler Center.

Wednesday's winner takes on No. 6 seed Indiana in the late game on Thursday.

History in Big Ten tournament

Michigan won the inaugural Big Ten tournament in 1998 (though that win was vacated due to NCAA sanctions). Still, history shows that Robert Traylor was the tournament's Most Outstanding Player in Chicago.

U-M won the tournament in 2017 in Washington — you may remember that run, led by Derrick Walton came on the heels of the Wolverines' airplane sliding off the runway on their way to the tournament. Walton was the tournament's MOP.

Michigan followed that up with a tournament victory in the 2018, when Mortiz Wagner's MOP performance was on the game's grandest stage at Madison Square Garden.

All time, U-M is 25-21 in the tournament, with two titles and two runner-up finishes.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball in Big Ten tournament: When, what time they play