Michigan Wolverines fall short in 80-72 loss to Purdue Boilermakers in Big Ten Tournament championship game

The No. 3 Michigan Wolverines suffered an 80-72 loss to the No. 18 Purdue Boilermakers in the Big Ten Tournament championship game, falling just short of winning the tournament title for a second consecutive season at the United Center on Sunday.

Michigan was hoping to win the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles in the same season for the first time ever, but the Boilermakers had other plans as they used a 7-0 run to start the second half to eventually upset the top-seeded Wolverines.

Purdue was fueled by center Oscar Cluff's 21 points, forward Trey Kaufman-Renn's 20 points, and guard Braden Smith's 14 points and game-high 11 assists. Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg had a team-high 20 points but it wasn't get to secure a win.

“We’ll refer back to lessons that we learned from this. We weren’t at our best but Purdue had something to do with that," Michigan head coach Dusty May said following the loss. Both programs will now turn their attention to the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Purdue stat leaders

Oscar Cluff: 21 points (game-high), 5 rebounds

Trey Kaufman-Renn: 20 points, 3 rebounds

Braden Smith: 14 points, 11 assists (game-high)

Fletcher Loyer: 14 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds

Michigan stat leaders

Yaxel Lendeborg: 20 points, 5 rebounds

Aday Mara: 14 points, 7 rebounds

Nimari Burnett: 12 points, 4 rebounds

Elliot Cadeau: 10 points, 10 assists

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