Michigan vs. Wisconsin: Score, Twitter Reaction for Big Ten Championship 2017

The Michigan Wolverines completed their week to remember by winning the 2017 Big Ten tournament championship with a 71-56 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers. 

With four wins in four days, all coming after the team's airplane slid off the runway during takeoff at Willow Run Airport on Wednesday, the Wolverines locked down an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. 

Jon Solomon of CBS Sports was able to have some fun with the Wolverines' interesting week after winning the Big Ten title:

Michigan's win was also one for the Big Ten tournament history books, as this pregame graphic from ESPN Stats & Info noted:

This marks Michigan's first official Big Ten tournament title since the event's inception in 1998. The Wolverines won the inaugural event 19 years ago but later vacated due to sanctions imposed from the Ed Martin scandal. 

The Wolverines were able to triumph over Wisconsin thanks to a combination of lights-out shooting and defense preventing other Badgers players aside from the trio of Bronson Koenig, Ethan Happ and Nigel Hayes from doing anything. 

Michigan's offense has been firing on all cylinders this week in Washington D.C. Sunday marked the team's third time in four games shooting at least 50 percent overall. 

Senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. led the Wolverines' barrage with 22 points, his second straight game with at least 20 points and seven assists. 

Zak Irvin had a pointed quote about Michigan's aspirations coming into Sunday's showdown against Wisconsin, via Big Ten Men's Hoops:

Even though this was the Wolverines' fourth game in four days, they showed no signs of fatigue. Irvin was a key reason for that, doing a little bit of everything with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists. 

Irvin also had one of the game's biggest plays. After Wisconsin went on a 5-0 run to cut its deficit to 51-45 with just over six minutes remaining and appeared to finally get in rhythm, Irvin nailed a contested three-pointer with Jordan Hill right in his face to put momentum back on Michigan's side.

MTV's Jane Coaston had the perfect analogy tweet to sum up Irvin's ascent throughout the Big Ten tournament:

As good as Irvin and Walton have been, though, credit also goes to Michigan's defense for upping its game throughout this week.

Defense has been an Achilles' heel for the Wolverines during the season. They finished a respectable 40th in points allowed per game, but that ranking dropped all the way to 166th in efficiency with 102.1 points allowed per 100 possessions, per Sports-Reference.com.

Hayes, Happ and Koenig were able to get theirs with a combined 43 points, but four other Badgers combined for just 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting. 

Because of Wisconsin's inability to get any consistent rhythm on offense and committing 15 turnovers, holding a 14-3 advantage in offensive rebounds didn't matter. 

Badgers head coach Greg Gard has struggled to develop a fully formed offense. They've been so dependent on Hayes, Happ and Koenig all season that when they go up against an explosive group, like Michigan, that breaks through their defense, it's been difficult to keep up. 

In defeat, Wisconsin becomes more interesting heading into the NCAA tournament. The Badgers closed the season on a miserable stretch with six losses in their last 10 games and were held under 60 points four times in that span. 

The Badgers will still be an at-large tournament team, but Gard needs to find ways to open up his offense before the tournament or be faced with an early exit next week.

ESPN's Dana O'Neil gave praise to Michigan head coach John Beilein:

Beilein has had a fantastic run with the Wolverines since taking over in 2007. This will be the program's seventh tournament appearance in 10 seasons, with a trip to the national title game in 2013 and Elite Eight in 2014 along the way. 

This season was one in which Michigan was an afterthought, both nationally and in conference play. It wasn't an undeserved status as the No. 8 seed in a year when the Big Ten wasn't as strong as it usually is. 

Heading into the NCAA tournament, though, the Wolverines look like a dangerous opponent. They are scoring in bunches and with efficiency while playing strong defense to back it up. 

There's also this nugget that's relevant to tournament play provided by Maize N Brew's Drew Hallett:

By virtue of having 11 total losses, Michigan will likely be looking at a middle-of-the-pack seed when the brackets are announced later Sunday. That's not indicative of how this group is playing right now, so another deep tournament run feels expected at this point. 

Postgame Reaction

An emotional Beilein praised the fight in his team, especially the seniors, after the win, via CBS Sports:

Following his coach's lead, Walton described the steps Michigan took before and during the game to secure a victory over Wisconsin, per Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free-Press: 

"

Yesterday, we were talking about how we were 40 away from being 40 away. We went into halftime talking about how we were 20 away. They made a run but I looked our guys and no one was even thinking about being tired. Being tired wasn't even an option. This feeling is surreal. The confetti. I dreamt it, I saw it. Now it feels great to have it in fruition.

"

Irvin focused on everything that happened to Michigan throughout the week leading to this moment for the program. 

“It means so much to all of us," Irvin said, per Snyder. "All of the adversity that we've been to throughout the whole tournament. We stuck together as a family and got the job done.”