INDIANAPOLIS − Michigan basketball opened the month of March 0-3 to fall out of Big Ten regular season title contention and as a result simply focused one main goal with the postseason on tap: get its swagger back.

After a frantic weekend, with three games in three days in Indianapolis, it’s safe to say mission accomplished for the Wolverines, who topped Wisconsin, 59-53, to win the Big Ten tournament.

U-M dominated Purdue by 18 points in the quarterfinal on Friday, then turned around 16 hours later and although it blew a 15-point second-half lead vs. Maryland on Saturday, Tre Donaldson played hero with a coast-to-coast layup in the final 5.8 seconds for the win.

That set the stage for Sunday, where in the team’s third game in 42 hours, Michigan topped Wisconsin in the championship game to win the program’s fourth Big Ten tournament title, the first since the program went back-to-back under Hall-of-Famer John Beilein in 2017 and 2018.

Celebrate Michigan’s Big Ten tournament title with our special posters!In 2017, it came after the team’s plane skidded off the runway when leaving for the tourney. In 2018, it came before a historic NCAA tournament run to the national championship game. It remains to be seen what awaits in 2025.

The heroes on this day were L.J. Cason and Will Tscheter, who combined to make three 3-pointers while U-M’s big three struggled to find its footing. That kept Michigan in range long enough before the big dogs could make the closing plays down the stretch.

Danny Wolf had consecutive layups during a 7-0 run to tie the game, Tre Donaldson hit a slashing layup to pull within one, then a go-ahead 3 with less than two minutes to play and Goldin drilled the go-ahead free throws with 46 seconds to play, before U-M held on to win late.

The Wolverines will get to enjoy this for about half an hour before the NCAA selection show, where they find out their fate as the program readies for its first appearance in March Madness in three years.

How it happened

Neither team could shoot a lick in the first half. Wisconsin opened the game 3 for 19, and though Michigan made three of of its first four tries, it too went ice cold from the floor, making just three of its next 19 tries.

Michigan led by five, 12-7, when Goldin hit a 3 from the top of the key, but after Wisconsin re-took the lead, neither team led by more than three the rest of the half before Wisconsin went into the locker room up by two.

The Badgers punched first in the second half, scoring six straight to go up by eight, when Cason hit back-to-back 3s for the Wolverines to keep them in striking distance, 32-27. The Badgers pushed again, scoring six consecutive points from the free throw line, before Tschetter finally hit a long ball and then Goldin a spinning hook to get back within six points with less than 12 minutes to play.

It would stay in that range for the next handful of minutes until Michigan made its own push. Tschetter hit a 3 from the left wing, then Wolf hit a reverse layup before a spinning, slashing finger-roll to tie the game at 45 as Wisconsin suffered through a 1 of 12 stretch from the floor.

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John Tonje finally made his first bucket of the game on a drive and slam to put Wisconsin up three, but it only lasted a moment, as Nimari Burnett answered with a 3 from the corner to knot the game at 48. 

Steven Crowl then hit a long ball for the Badgers, before Donaldson finished a layup to get within one with 3:31 to play.

The game would stay there for nearly two minutes until Donaldson drilled another stone-cold shot, a 25-footer from the right wing to take the lead with 1:54 to play, before Max Klesmit tied it at the line with 94 seconds left.

The ball then went out of bounds on U-M’s possession three times, generating three reviews, but each time it stayed with U-M. Then, Goldin hit a pair of free throws, Wisconsin missed multiple layups and jumpers and U-M held on to win the title.

What it means

Not only did the Wolverines cap the biggest turnaround in program and Big Ten history, but they completed the journey of going worst to first. Just one year after going 3-17 in the league, Michigan went 17-6 in 23 Big Ten contests and won one of the two banners available.

It is proof positive of Dusty May’s coaching, his team’s buy-in and their ability to rebound through adversity.

Sure, Wisconsin was on its fourth game in four days and had its worst shooting day of the year making just 15 of 68 (22.1%) of its shots and 7 of 39 (17.9%) of its 3s but that was also U-M’s doing with tenacious defense.

The Wolverines have re-gained their momentum, and then some, heading into the NCAA tournament.

Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.