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Illini Bounced From Big 10 Tourney In Opening Round

Michael Barera
/
Wikimedia Commons

Flying into town only a few hours before tipoff because of travel trouble a day earlier, and wearing yellow practice jerseys instead of the game uniforms that got stuck on their abandoned airplane, Michigan raced to an early double-digit lead and beat Illinois 75-55 to reach the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.

The Illini loss figures to severely hurt Illinois' chances of being selected for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
 
Derrick Walton scored 19 points for No. 8 seed Michigan (21-11), which meets regular-season conference champion Purdue next.
 
The Wolverines were stuck wearing the simple, practice tank tops _ no players' names on the back _ against ninth-seeded Illinois (18-14) because their proper uniforms, along with everyone's suitcases, were trapped under the plane that slid off a runway during an aborted takeoff Wednesday, according to Michigan spokesman Kurt Svoboda

No one was injured, Svoboda said.

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