Big Ten: After Plane Crash, Michigan Wins Big Sporting Their Practice Gear

The Michigan Wolverines beat the Illinois Fighting Illini 75-55 one day after their plane crashed during takeoff.

It’s not everyday that a college basketball team has to overcome a plane crash, let alone one day before a game. However, that’s exactly what happened to the Michigan Wolverines.

On March 8, while the first round of the Big Ten Tournament was getting ready to tip off in Washington, the Wolverines were stuck figuring out how they would get to the nation’s capital.

After all, their plane had just skid off the runway, leaving them stranded halfway across the country with their quarterfinal game less than 24 hours away.

No. 8 Michigan was scheduled to play No. 9 Illinois at noon on March 9.

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The plane, which was carrying team members, band members, cheerleaders and family, couldn’t come to a full stop after aborting takeoff. Dealing with high wind conditions, the plane went through a fence before coming to rest in a ditch alongside a road near the airport.

Luckily, none of the 109 people on board sustained serious injuries, although, Brendan F. Quinn of MLive.com reported that superstar Derrick Walton Jr. suffered a gash that would require stitches.

With no immediate plans made to change the noon EST start time, the program scrambled to get to the Verizon Center in D.C.

According to Quinn, the program took a flight out of Detroit on Thursday morning, just 4½ hours before they were to tip off against Illinois. The team flew into Dulles airport in Northern Virginia, arriving at the Verizon Center at 10:41 a.m.

In a nice gesture, the Big Ten pushed tip off back 20 minutes to 12:20 p.m ET.

According to Andy Katz, officials left the door open for Michigan to push the game back even further, but the Wolverines only asked for the 20-minute extension.

Talkin’ Bout Practice (Uniforms):

One thing that did not arrive at the Verizon Center, however, was the Wolverines’ game uniforms. The normal maize-and-blue duds were stuck in the cargo area of the crashed plane, unable to make the flight out of Detroit.

Instead of their sharp Jordan brand attire, Michigan hit the floor in their practice clothes. The team sported blue shorts, along with yellow jerseys sans players’ names.

https://twitter.com/umichbball/status/839872555972497412

With only an hour to get ready for the game, the Wolverines played as if everything was perfectly normal. They jumped all over a desperate Illinois team, leading by as many as 20 points in the first half. When the final buzzer sounded, Michigan walked off the court with a 75-55 triumph.

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The starting unit played nearly the entire game, with the bench only logging 30 minutes combined.

Fresh off his wound, Walton paved the way for the Michigan win. He led the Wolverines in scoring with 19 points, knocking down a team-high four three-point field goals in the process.

Moving forward, the Wolverines will play on Friday at noon EST versus No. 1 seed Purdue. In their only meeting this year, the Boilermakers beat Michigan 82-70 in West Lafayette, Ind.

Ironically, this isn’t the first time Michigan basketball is associated with plane crashes. In 2014-15, Austin Hatch was a member of the Wolverines basketball team. Hatch is the survivor of two separate plane crashes, both of which killed members of his immediate family.

In 2015-16, Hatch retired as a player and is now a student assistant for the team. Luckily, Hatch was not aboard the plane that skid off the runway.

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As of March 9, Joe Lunardi has Michigan projected as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament.