Big Ten tournament: Michigan’s Tre Donaldson goes coast-to-coast to stun Maryland with 0.9 seconds left

Tre Donaldson needed a few seconds to flip Michigan-Maryland on its head. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

In the racing capital of the world, it was the speed of Tre Donaldson that put Michigan in the Big Ten tournament championship game.

The Wolverines beat Maryland 81-80 in the semifinal on Saturday, taking the lead with less than a second to go on a coast-to-coast lay-up by the junior guard. They will face Wisconsin, which beat Michigan State in the first semifinal with some drama of its own, in the final on Sunday.

[Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem is back: Enter for a shot to win up to $50K]

Maryland had taken the lead seconds earlier on a pair of made free throws by Derik Queen, but Michigan got the ball quickly to Donaldson and had him race past four Terrapins defenders to get the biggest basket of his Wolverines career.

Maryland had no time left to even attempt a response.

Donaldson talked about the play with CBS after the game:

“Coach drew up the play for me to get down here and make a play for my teammates and make a play for myself. My teammates put me in a great situation and I was able to finish it, but all glory goes to God.”

It was a frustratingly familiar ending for Maryland, which lost its eighth game of the season. All eight of those losses have been by six points or fewer, with half of them coming on shots in the final 10 seconds. Saturday’s wasn’t as bad as their last one, though.

Donaldson finished the game with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting with nine assists and three rebounds. Vladislav Goldin paced Michigan with 25 points, while Queen led all scorers with 31.

Both teams are expected to land somewhere been a No. 3 and 5 seed in the NCAA tournament, but Michigan could bump itself nicely with one more win Saturday. Michigan won its only meeting with Wisconsin in the regular season, 67-64.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *