Kameron Chatman kept his team's NCAA tournament hopes alive in the most stunning fashion possible.
The Michigan forward sank a last-second corner 3-pointer to give the eighth-seeded Wolverines a 72-69 upset victory over regular season champion Indiana in Fridays first Big Ten quarterfinal.
Michigan's victory probably isn't enough to ensure an NCAA tournament bid, but it keeps the Wolverines relevant entering Saturday's Big Ten semifinal against either Purdue or Illinois. They're now 22-11 with quality wins over Texas, Maryland, Purdue and Indiana, but those are their only four victories over RPI top 100 teams all year in 15 tries.
It seemed like Michigan was headed to the NIT when it fell behind by five points in the final three minutes, but Division III transfer Duncan Robinson helped rally the Wolverines. First he scored a driving layup, drew a foul and sank the free throw to cut the deficit to two. Then he buried a game-tying 3-pointer in the final minute to pave the way for Chatman's heroics.
Chatman was an unlikely candidate to hit the biggest shot of Michigan's season. He averaged 2.8 points per game this season and had only seven threes prior to Friday.
Of course, Michigan is making a habit of dramatic season-saving Big Ten tournament wins this week. The Wolverines edged Northwestern 72-70 in overtime on Thursday after it appeared that Robinson got away with a travel late on a key play in regulation.
Credit Michigan for taking advantage of that break on Thursday and then adding to Indiana's Big Ten tournament misfortune Friday. The Hoosiers now have not advanced beyond the quarterfinals the past three seasons and have not reached the title game since 2001.
Indiana's latest loss could be costly from an NCAA tournament seeding standpoint. The Hoosiers had a chance at a No. 2 seed if they followed up their Big Ten regular season title with a deep tournament run, but instead they're probably looking at a No. 3 or even No. 4 seed now.
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