Moritz Wagner Leads Michigan Past Purdue to 2nd Straight Big Ten Championship

For the second time in as many seasons, Michigan is the Big Ten tournament champion.

Mortiz Wagner scored 17 points and Jon Teske added 14 off the bench, leading the Wolverines to a 75-66 win over Purdue on Sunday.  

Michigan is the first school to repeat as Big Ten champions since Ohio State did so in 2010 and 2011. Not counting the 1998 vacated tournament championship, this is just the second conference tournament win in Wolverines history.

Wagner won tournament MVP honors with averages of 15.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. 

The Wolverines led just 38-33 at the end of a competitive first half but pulled away with a two-way virtuoso performance in the second. Wagner, who struggled for much of the first half with foul trouble, scored 10 of his 17 points after the break. The 6'11" junior will have to keep his fouls under check during the NCAA tournament, as he had at least three in each of Michigan's four wins this week.

"He's really important, and don't give him too much credit. He still has some of the dumbest fouls I've ever seen," Michigan coach John Beilein said Friday after the quarterfinal win over Nebraska. "He's so important to us. I've got to find a German way to tell him that fouling is stupid. So maybe out there, somebody can tweet that to me or something because he continues to put them in the bonus early. But don't get me wrong, I love that young man."

Purdue went more than seven minutes without a field goal during a crucial stretch in the second half when the Boilermakers could have made a comeback. Matt Painter's team shot a fine 45.5 percent from the floor overall but went 4-of-17 from distance.

Michigan assisted on 18 of its 26 baskets, and four players scored in double figures. Teske came through huge in the first half, scoring 12 of his 14 before the break. The sophomore big man hadn't scored in double figures since a blowout win over Detroit Mercy in December.

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (15 points) and Zavier Simpson (10 points) were also in double figures for Michigan. 

Purdue's effort was led by a 23-point, eight-rebound effort from Isaac Haas. Carsen Edwards added 12 points and Dakota Mathias had 11, but the pair shot a combined 8-of-27 from the field. Nojel Eastern scored 11 off the bench.

The two teams will now sit for a week before awaiting word from the NCAA tournament selection committee about their seeding. Michigan entered Sunday slotted in as a No. 5 seed by ESPN's Joe Lunardi, while Purdue was a No. 2. The Wolverines could move up to that No. 3-4 line after securing their automatic bid.