From our archives is Kevin Keckler's story from the first Big Ten Tournament title game, played on March 8, 1998 and the only time before today that Michigan and Purdue battled for the Big Ten postseason tournament title. Purdue, fresh off wins over Indiana and Illinois was ranked No. 9 nationally, while the Wolverines were ranked 18th. The Wolverines were the No. 4 seed and defeated Iowa and Minnesota on their way to the title game. Purdue had to face Michigan without standout sophomore Brian Cardinal at full strength as he had contracted food poisoning three days earler and managed just six points in the entire Tournament. It marked three of the seven games that "Citizen Pain" didn't start in his 132-game Boilermaker career.
Oh, and the Wolverines had to vacate its Tournament title a few years later after a run-in with the NCAA.
Michigan State and Illinois tied for the regular season Big Ten crown in 1998. Purdue was rewarded for its BTT run by having the opportunity to return to Chicago's United Center a week later for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament where it blew out Delaware (95-56) and Detroit (80-65) before losing to Stanford 67-59 in the Sweet 16 in St. Louis.
CHICAGO — To be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, according to Coach Gene Keady, a team needs to have two or three NBA players.
If that’s the case, it’s hard to believe Michigan, who has at least three perspective professional players on its roster, was a No. 4 seed for the first Big Ten Tournament. So with players such as Robert Traylor, Jerod Ward, Louis Bullock and Maceo Baston, it’s no surprise the Wolverines (24-8 overall) defeated the Boilermakers (26-7), 76-67, March 8 for the inaugural conference postseason tourney crown.
“They probably should have won the league,” Keady said. “They probably had the most talent. Their coaches did a good job of bringing them up to the Tournament and fighting through it.”
It literally was a fight throughout the game, as kicks, shoves and elbows were exchanged between the two teams. But the biggest battle of them all, was the war down low between Purdue’s low post players and Traylor.
The 6-8, 300-pounder got off to a sluggish start, but made up for that with an incredible second 20 minutes. Prior to halftime, the mammoth junior was just 3-of-6 from the field for six points. By the time the final horn sounded, Traylor had a game-high 24 points on 12-of-16 shooting and 13 rebounds.
Even though the Wolverine widebody went off, there wasn’t much Purdue’s Brad Miller could do.
“He weighs 300 pounds and on a good day I’m pushing 240,” said Miller, who had a great game finishing with 23 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. “It’s hard to get around that guy. You try to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible. That much weight on you kind of wears you down a little. The laws of physics will tell you if something weighs 60 more pounds it’s going to have leverage.”
Keady was disappointed his team had trouble with all of Michigan’s front line players. Traylor, Baston, Ward and Josh Asselin combined for 53 points.
“We weren’t able to contain them,” Keady said. “Traylor did a great job and they all did by outrebounding us. Their three big guys dominated us there. It was pretty much a case of their guards getting it up the floor and getting it to the big guys and doing a good job finishing.”
It was the Wolverines’ ability to finish strong that gave Michigan the Tournament trophy. Purdue entered the lockerroom at intermission with a 33-31 lead. But after the two teams traded hoops in the first four minutes, Michigan went on a 9-0 run in a span of 1:18 to lead 47-40 with 14:59 remaining.
Two dunks, a layin and a short jumper later, the Maize and Blue had the announced crowd of 21,711 at Chicago’s United Center going crazy. The control that Purdue had for the first 25 minutes of the game had vanished in a mere 78 seconds.
“Robert and Louis just started off so slow in the first half, that in the second half they wanted to show what kind of players they are,” Michigan interim coach Brian Ellerbe said. “Jerod, Travis (Conlan) and Maceo in the first half were big.”
The Boilermakers climbed back to within 55-51 with 9:13 remaining, however, they didn’t score another field goal until a Brian Cardinal bucket with 6:37 on the clock. With Purdue struggling, the Wolverines just kept on clicking, led by a Bullock three-pointer to start a 9-0 run.
Keady’s Kids did have another opportunity to get back in the game down 11, but four straight missed free throws slammed the door shut. Michigan won the battle to loose balls, creating a 26-6 advantage on second-chance points.
Purdue had one last gasp when Alan Eldridge sank an NBA three-pointer to make it 70-65 with 1:30 left.
It was truly a different Wolverine team after halftime.
“We weren’t really alive on defense, with our legs,” Keady said. “We didn’t have enough deflections, dives on the floor, charges... they just outcompeted us today. You have to be able to do that if you want to be a champion.”
A team also must be healthy and rested to have a legitimate shot at being crowned the conference tournament champion. It was three games in three days, including back-to-back games against Indiana and Illinois, for the Boilermakers. Couple that with the fact Purdue was still without Jaraan Cornell and a less-than-effective Cardinal, who was suffering from a virus, and the task became even more difficult.
But the Boilermakers did receive great Tournament play from sophomores Mike Robinson and Gary McQuay, both of whom started all three games. Robinson made the all-tournament team by posting 54 points and 24 rebounds, while McQuay had 21 points and 21 boards.
“My hat is off to Purdue. Coach Keady’s teams are always so tough and resilient,” Ellerbe said. “I just thought our guys gutted it out and executed some things that were really needed even though we didn’t get to practice on them. Our zone defense was good to us today.”
That zone defense kept the Boilermakers’ Chad Austin from having a good game. Austin was a disappointing 2-of-14 from the field and finished with just six points. However, some of that struggle came from having to guard the sharpshooting Bullock, who only had 10 points, all in the second half.
“I had some open shots, but they weren’t falling,” Austin said. “They felt good, but I guess I just didn’t get my legs under me enough.”
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