After narrowly getting by Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, the Michigan Wolverines needed to play well against the Indiana Hoosiers to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. They did themselves one better by upsetting Indiana in the quarterfinals.
Tied at 69 with about 40 seconds left in the game, Indiana opted to run the shot clock down and leave as little time for Michigan's possession as possible. Michigan's defense refused to give the Hoosiers a good look and came up with a steal with 20 seconds left in the game.
With one timeout, Michigan head coach John Beilein let his team take the ball up rather than taking time to devise a play. The clock ticked down to five seconds when Derrick Walton, Jr., drove past a screen at the right shoulder and passed to Kam Chatman in the corner.
Chatman appeared to hesitate, or fake a pass back to Walton, but fired off the shot regardless. The clock ran down to zero just as Chatman's corner three-pointer reached the bottom of the net. Michigan beats Indiana 72-69.
This is how Michigan stunned Indiana. This is March: https://t.co/gR5SzdD6fV https://t.co/kQUSW5KskZ
— SB Nation (@SBNation) March 11, 2016
When you hit a game-winner in March…#GoBlue #B1GTourney pic.twitter.com/Q6gQYqYYLh — Michigan Athletics (@UMichAthletics) March 11, 2016
The television broadcasters indicated Beilein "had a choice to make" between Chatman and Aubrey Dawkins for the final shot. Both came off the bench against Indiana; Chatman played eight minutes and Dawkins played nine. Before his buzzer-beater, Chatman had two points in the game and Dawkins had none.
The three-pointer was the eighth Chatman had made all season, and he was also shooting 27 percent from distance to boot. Whether that shot propels Michigan to the NCAA Tournament or not, it certainly give the Wolverines a chance and it will be a huge confidence builder for the sophomore guard.
Michigan came into its quarterfinal matchup with Indiana having just squeaked by against Northwestern, a win they secured on Zak Irvin's game-winning jumper in overtime.
"I was amped up before the game," he said after the game. "It's always nice coming back to your hometown so that friends and family can see you play. I was just proud of how hard we were able to fight and how tough we were throughout. Coach (John) Beilein put the ball in my hands at the end, and we were just trying to get the best shot we could."
Irvin led Michigan with 17 points against Indiana and was one of four Wolverines players to score double-digit points.
