March 9, 2007

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Game Four • March 9, 2007 • United Center • Chicago, Ill.
#1 Ohio State 72 (28-3) vs. #8 Michigan 62 (21-12)
No. 1 Ohio State advances to play winner of No. 4 Iowa/No. 5 Purdue at 12:40 p.m. CST Saturday

Michigan's 22 offensive rebounds were a program Big Ten Tournament (BTT) record as well as a season high. The 47 total boards for the Wolverines in the game were also the most for Michigan in the BTT and eclipsed the season best for the program as well.

The 22 offensive boards by the Wolverines also tied for the second most in a BTT contest. The high is 23, which Michigan State pulled down in a loss to Minnesota on March 6, 1998. Illinois also grabbed 22 boards on the offensive end in a win over Indiana on March 5, 1999.

Michigan had a +22 rebounding margin in today's contest, the third best in BTT history. The high for rebounding margin was set in a victory by Penn State, who out rebounded Iowa, 48-18, on March 10, 2001, for a +30 margin. The second highest rebounding margin in BTT history is +25, which Illinois set in a victory over Indiana on March 5, 1999.

Today marked Ohio State's 28th victory of the season, an all-time program record. The previous high was 27, set in 1960-61 (27-1, falling in the national championship game to Cincinnati) and again in 1990-91 (27-4).

The win marked Ohio State's 15th consecutive victory.

In the BTT, No. 1 seeds now have an all time record of 12-7. Two of those No. 1 seeds captured the BTT title (Michigan State in 1999 and Illinois in 2005).

In head-to-head games between the No. 1 and No. 8 seeds, the No. 1 seed improved its record to 6-2.

OSU head coach Thad Matta improved his record to 6-0 against Michigan, including a perfect 3-0 record in 2006-07.

Defense continues to dominate the BTT, as Michigan's 62 points marked the first time in the last 18 BTT games that the losing team had scored more than 60 points.

Greg Oden of Ohio State scored 22 points in the contest, marking the fourth time in his career that he has topped 20 points. His top efforts were 29 points vs. Iowa on Jan 20, 2007, 24 points vs. Tennessee on Jan. 13, 2007, and 21 points vs. Indiana on Jan. 2, 2007.

Oden's four blocks against the Wolverines tied Ohio State's individual BTT record in that category. OSU's Ken Johnson blocked four shots against Penn State on March 10, 2000. Oden now has a total of 84 blocks on the season, adding to his program record total.

Mike Conley, Jr. of Ohio State dished out six assists against Michigan, boosting his season total to 197. He now is only 10 shy of tying Purdue's Bruce Parkinson for 10th place on the all time Big Ten single season assists list. The conference record was set by Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State, who dished out 274 assists during the 1998-99 season.

Conley led the Big Ten in assist to turnover ratio during the regular season. In today's game he turned the ball over three times, giving him a season total of just 66.

Ohio State's bench out-scored Michigan's bench, 15-13, marking the 23rd time in 31 games the feat had occurred. For the season, OSU has 736 bench points to its opponents' 436.

Brent Petway of Michigan pulled down nine defensive rebounds to lead the Wolverines. That is a career best for the senior.

With a two-of-three performance from the free throw line in the game, Michigan's Lester Abram of Michigan has a 17-of-18 career mark from the stripe in his BTT career. After sinking two free throws in the first half to extend his streak to 17 made, Abram missed the front half of a one-and-one in the second period to end his perfect mark.