Big Ten Tournament champions: Badgers rally for 80-69 OT victory over Michigan State
CHICAGO (AP) — Nigel Hayes scored 25 points, Frank Kaminsky added 19 and No. 6 Wisconsin outscored Michigan State 11-0 in overtime Sunday for an 80-69 victory in the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
Bronson Koenig scored 18 points, and the Badgers (31-3) rallied from 11 points down in the second half in an attempt to strengthen their bid for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Branden Dawson and Denzel Valentine scored 16 points each for Michigan State (23-11). But the Spartans were outscored 31-10 over the final 11 1/2 minutes of the game and came up short after winning the tournament last year.
In the first overtime in a Big Ten title game, Hayes and Koenig hit 3-pointers in the first 3 minutes to give the Badgers a 75-69 lead. Michigan State missed all six shots and committed two turnovers in the extra period.
The #1 seed Badgers take on the #16 seed Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in Omaha, Nebraska on Friday, March 20th.
Kentucky, Villanova, Wisconsin and Duke are the top-seeded teams going into this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament that opens this week. The Kentucky Wildcats are in the Midwest Region, with the Villanova Wildcats in East Region, the Wisconsin Badgers in the West Region and the Duke Blue Devils in the South Region.