CBB: Washington wills Ohio State past Michigan in semifinals

The 5-seed Ohio State Buckeyes (21-8, 12-8) took down the regular season champion Michigan Wolverines (20-4, 14-3) in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Saturday, March 13 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Michigan got out to a 27-26 halftime lead but found itself down double digits with just over three minutes remaining after Franz Wagner fouled out. Hunter Dickinson led the comeback with 21 points and eight rebounds on 64.3% shooting from the field but the Buckeyes were able to hang on for a 68-67 win. Mike Smith missed a potential game-winning step back for the Wolverines as time expired.

Duane Washington totaled a game-high 24 points, six rebounds, and four assists on 5/10 shooting from 3-point range. EJ Liddell and Justice Sueing combined for 27 points and 10 rebounds. Smith finished with 10 points and four assists in the loss. The Buckeyes knocked down 54.5% of their 3-point attempts and picked up seven blocked shots. Ohio State advances to the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the first time since 2013, where they'll take on Illinois or Iowa. Michigan, who's projected to be a 1-seed, will await it's opponent in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

“We are definitely going to learn from these games that we’ve been playing. They’ve been coming down to the wire but we’re doing a good job. We just have to stick with what we’ve been doing, stay confident in each other, and keep believing in what we’ve got going on," Washington said in the postgame press conference. "Everybody knows that we lost to them earlier in the year. It was one of the best college basketball games, if not the best, of the year. It was a lot of hype, energy and excitement. We were excited for this one and we got the one that mattered."

Photo Credit: Saturday Tradition.