No. 1 seed Purdue faces survivor MI in Big Ten quarterfinal

“Then I looked around and saw all the fear and it was very real”.

Things always move fast during conference tournaments, but this will definitely be a week to remember for the Michigan Wolverines, regardless of what happens next.

MI capped off a insane 24 hours by pasting IL, 75-55, in the Big Ten Tournament. But that’s getting old.

For those unaware, the Wolverines were forced to don their practice gear for Thursday’s Big Ten Tournament win over IL after a plane accident on the way to Washington, D.C. According to MLive, head coach John Beilein held down inflatable chutes, spraying his face with fuel to ensue the team’s safety.

Once play began, though, MI never trailed. The emergency doors were taken off and we all got out.

ESPN.com reported Thursday night the team’s luggage, including those game uniforms, will have to remain on board until the investigation is completed.

Abrams continued to play well (game-high 23 points), but the MI defense made the rest of the roster uncomfortable, resulting in 14 turnovers by the Fighting Illini.

MI couldn’t take the uniforms because they were under the plane. He’s developed players form the time they’ve been here. Heck, they felt lucky to be alive and if you were guessing which team might have travel fatigue, it would be IL. Trailing 40-29 at halftime, IL (18-14) cut its deficit to eight early in the second half before MI quickly stretched its lead back to double-digits.

The Illinois Fighting Illini (18-13) are coming from a 62-59 loss to Rutgers in which Maverick Morgan scored 16 points in 6-for-14 shooting from the field. “I think it just hit me how proud I was of them”, he said. So I just won’t see them as often as I see them during the season. IL shot a blistering 9 of 14 on three-pointers and made 64.2 percent from the field in a 85-69 win over MI on January 11 in Champaign, Ill. They played, he said, as if they had a new season. If they trigger a revival of the program, Groce deserves credit for jump-starting the process. We were excited to get back on the court, get everything back to normal. We were good. I don’t think there was anything other than, All right, like a game situation, what everybody does in their workday every day, they’re in a crisis. Those seasons are rare. The Big Ten delayed tipoff by about 30 minutes.

Instead, the program is in rare and unwelcome territory: The Illini haven’t missed an NCAA Tournament appearance in four straight seasons since Lou Henson’s first five years at IL from 1975-1980.