NEW YORK (Eagle News) – The Michigan Wolverines have a “New York State of Mind,” as blue and gold lit up the Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden, defeating the Purdue Boilermakers, 75-66, to capture their second consecutive Big Ten Conference title Sunday afternoon.
The Wolverines fans packed the Garden and gave their support to the team which displayed confidence and swagger throughout the game. Michigan, who extended their winning streak to nine games, is looking like a team that can potentially take it all and win the NCAA championship title in San Antonio, Texas next month.
“This is one of the best teams I’ve ever coached,” said Michigan Coach, John Beilein. “You can’t win these championships if [the team] is not dedicated all year long. It takes a long time to sort of build up the substance to your team that can persevere and just won’t give in. They won’t give in to fatigue. They won’t give in to momentum changes. They just stick in there and [do] things the old-fashioned way with a lot of hard work.”
Four Michigan players scored in double figures, led by Moritz “Moe” Wagner with 17 points. Wagner was named the Big Ten Conference tournament MVP.
“First of all, we’re going to enjoy this a couple of days and get some rest,” said Wagner. “But winning is so much fun. Obviously it’s a good feeling and the Garden cheers for you. Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Then we’re going to focus on what’s next.”
With Michigan up by five at halftime, the Wolverines took control of the second half throughout. The highlight of the second half came on a dunk by Jon Teske where his name chanted by fans all over the Garden.
“I really have no words to explain,” said Teske. “The play just happened in that instance and it was a great pass and just finish it. Just trying to help my team win and we had great support from our fans who traveled far distances and great fans out here [in the] east. They always show support for us, so we wanted to put on a great show for them.”
To win in the Mecca of basketball means the world to guard Zavier Simpson.
“It feels great. It feels great just to being able to do this with my teammates,” said the guard. “We worked hard for this, so hard for it to be earned. I’m appreciative of the coaches, and hopefully we can just continue to keep winning and keep doing good things like this.”
(Eagle News Service, Tennie Sumague, EBC New York Bureau)