Burke, Sullinger drive teams into semis
INDIANAPOLIS - Ohio State vs. Michigan, Part III, will be Saturday afternoon.
A couple lifelong friends made sure of it.
The night session at the Big Ten Tournament Friday featured one close game, one blowout and a whole bunch of buckets from former teammates at Columbus Northland High School, Michigan freshman point guard Trey Burke and Ohio State's all-everything sophomore Jared Sullinger. Both Burke and Sullinger scored 30 points in their victories.
Michigan and Ohio State split two meetings in the regular season and split the Big Ten regular-season title with Michigan State. Sullinger and Burke won a state championship in high school; Sullinger was Ohio's Mr. Basketball in 2009 and 2010, and Burke won the award last year.
Sullinger won the Big Ten Tournament MVP award last year, and, well, you get where this is going.
"I watched Trey tonight, and he played a great game," Sullinger said. "Hopefully not tomorrow.
"It's a perfect system for him (at Michigan). He fits perfectly."
It was Ohio's day at the Big Ten Tournament. Wisconsin senior super sub Rob Wilson, a native Clevelander, scored 30 in the Badgers' quarterfinal win over Indiana. Burke had 30 to go along with 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks playing all 45 minutes of Michigan's overtime win over Minnesota, then Sullinger scored 30 and had 12 rebounds in the Buckeyes' win over Purdue in the nightcap.
Most importantly to Ohio State coach Thad Matta and Buckeyes fans, it was vintage Sullinger. He was aggressive early and a load around the basket.
"Not to toot my own horn, but we played through me," Sullinger said.
Ohio State outscored Purdue 48-18 in the paint. Both Sullinger and Matta said getting the post game was a matter of spacing, ball movement and execution, putting Sullinger in position to score and putting the defense in position to take its chances.
"If (defenses) don't double-team me, they're going to let me go to work," Sullinger said.
Michigan was flat from the start in its game vs. Minnesota and trailed by nine with just over four minutes left. Burke kept pushing the Wolverines, Zack Novak hit a pair of big 3-pointers down the stretch and a 3-pointer by Evan Smotrycz tied the game late.
Burke took over from the start of overtime. He and backcourt mate Tim Hardaway Jr. combined for 50 points. Burke shot 11-of-14 from the field for the game and 4-of-4 from the foul line in overtime.
"The story with Trey just keeps going on because I feel like sometimes I'm talking to a senior," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "He is talking to me in the game about things that he thinks we can use in our offense. And it's a pleasure...to have a guy who understands basketball at 19 years old as a freshman like he does. So he's easy to coach. He wants to win more than he wants to score points, but he also is not afraid to take it at people."
Saturday's semifinal pits an Ohio State team that's used to the spotlight, the big games and spending long weekends at the Big Ten Tournament vs. one that's new to this. In 2008 and 2010, Michigan came to the Big Ten Tournament needing a win to wrap up an NCAA Tournament berth. Last year, the Ohio State - Michigan semifinal game went to the wire before the Buckeyes snuck away with a 68-61 win.
That was while Burke was busy playing a district-level game in high school. Saturday afternoon, he'll have the ball in his hands in front of 18,000-plus here, with Sullinger on the other side and one of the nation's best on-ball defenders, Aaron Craft, shadowing his every move.
"Trey is just a phenomenal player," Michigan post player Jordan Morgan said. "It's not necessarily just scoring. He puts the team on his back. He's a leader. To see that out of a freshman, it's unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it."