Jase Richardson scored 17 points and No. 7 Michigan State used a 15-point run in the second half to spark a 74-64 victory over No. 23 Oregon in the first Big Ten tournament quarterfinal Friday in Indianapolis.
Jaden Akins posted 12 points, Jeremy Fears Jr. contributed 11 points and five assists and Coen Carr notched 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench for top-seeded Michigan State (27-5), which extended its winning streak to eight games and advanced to Saturday’s first semifinal against Wisconsin, which defeated UCLA later on Friday.
Nate Bittle paced eighth-seeded Oregon (24-9) with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while TJ Bamba added 11 points, six rebounds and five assists. The Ducks’ eight-game winning streak came to a close as guard Jackson Shelstad (eight points) missed all five of his 3-point tries as part of the team’s 4-of-19 showing on treys.
No. 11 Maryland 88, No. 24 Illinois 65
Rodney Rice scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the first nine minutes and the second-seeded Terrapins emphatically advanced to the semifinals of the Big Ten Conference tournament by routing the seventh-seeded Fighting Illini in Indianapolis.
Rice was 7 of 9 from 3-point range as the Terrapins (25-7) moved on to a matchup with third-seeded Michigan, which defeated sixth-seeded Purdue later Friday. Derik Queen added 19 points and 10 rebounds in just 23 minutes. Maryland committed only three turnovers and earned a whopping 22-0 advantage in points off turnovers.
Freshmen Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley each scored 15 points for the Fighting Illini (21-12), who are likely to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
No. 18 Wisconsin 86, UCLA 70
John Tonje went almost 35 minutes without missing a field-goal attempt to lead the Badgers to a blowout of the Bruins.
Tonje connected on his first nine shots from the floor and went 6-of-6 from 3-point range for a game-high 26 points. The fifth-seeded Badgers (25-8) made a Big Ten tournament record-tying 19 of their 32 attempts from beyond the arc in the game. Wisconsin matched the mark Iowa set in 2022 when it hit 19 of 29 in a win over Northwestern. The Badgers advance to Saturday’s semifinals to face No. 7 Michigan State, the tournament’s top seed.
Sebastian Mack led UCLA (22-10) with 18 points before fouling out. Kobe Johnson was the only other Bruin scorer in double figures with 14 points. Tyler Bilodeau matched Tonje’s game-high nine rebounds, but he shot just 1 of 7 from the floor in 18 minutes and finished with two points.
No. 22 Michigan 86, No. 20 Purdue 68
The Wolverines held the Boilermakers to 22-of-65 shooting from the floor and pulled away in the second half of their Big Ten tournament quarterfinal matchup in Indianapolis.
After giving up the game’s first six points, Michigan (23-9), the tournament’s No. 3 seed, answered with a 12-0 run. The 2:50 spurt gave the Wolverines a lead they never relinquished. Michigan’s big-man duo of Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin led the way on both ends. Wolf scored a team-high 18 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, while Goldin added 15 points and eight rebounds.
Trey Kaufman-Renn of sixth-seeded Purdue (22-11) led all scorers with 24 points, but faced physical defense from Michigan’s lengthy frontcourt. Kaufman-Renn shot only 9-of-24 from the floor and was forced into three of the Boilermakers’ five total turnovers.
–Field Level Media
