Michigan Men’s Basketball had the opportunity to share the Big Ten title with Purdue and let Michigan State send the championship shirts overseas countries. However, the Wolverines will see their championship shirts in some far off country with a 75-63 loss to the 9th ranked Spartans. With the game being two half Michigan could have stopped the game at the first half with the Wolverines leading the game at half time 35-29.
The Wolverines came to play and it showed the hostel Spartan crowd that they wanted the championship with Sophomore Jordan Poole, Zavier Simpson, and Ignas Brazdeikis leading Michigan to a quick 7-2 lead. Brazdeikis and Eli Brooks gave Michigan a 29-19 advantage with minutes left in the first half but with a media timeout, the Spartans went on a 6-0 run to close the Michigan lead to 6 points. Trouble was also brewing for Michigan as Poole and Brazdeikis were collecting fouls and forced to sit towards the end of the first half with two each.
The second half was all Michigan State as Cassius Winston led the way for the Spartans and with Brazdeikis on the bench for much of the second half picking his third foul the Wolverines scoring could not match the Spartans offensive streaks. Rebounds for Michigan were a memory as Michigan State controlled the boards and the foul line as the Spartans had 40 trips over double to what Michigan had. Michigan forced the Spartans into turnovers however could not score on these turnovers. Brazdeikis led all Michigan in scoring with 20 points and Jordan Poole had 15 however with Michigan not having Charles Matthews and Brezdeikis foul issues the Wolverines now settle in 3rd place in the Big Ten.
Michigan’s next game is still being decided as they know the location however the opponent is still unknown and the Wolverines will look to repeat last year’s championship title and placement in the NCAA.