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Michigan upsets No. 2 seed Louisville 73-69

Posted at 3:03 PM, Mar 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-19 20:22:56-04

INDIANAPOLIS -- Moe Wagner scored a career-high 26 points and spurred a furious second-half rally to send Michigan past second-seeded Louisville 73-69 on Sunday and into the Sweet 16.

The seventh-seeded Wolverines (26-11) have won seven straight -- six since a frightening plane accident before the Big Ten Tournament. They also earned a ticket to the Midwest Regional in Kansas City, Missouri, their first since 2014.

Donovan Mitchell scored 19 points and Deng Adel had 16 points to lead Louisville (25-9), which had made the Sweet 16 in its last four NCAA Tournament appearances.

But Wagner bailed out the Wolverines from a poor game.

Trailing 45-36 with 16:09 to play, the German native scored on a layup to start a 17-6 run that gave Michigan its first lead since the opening minutes. And after Wagner's 3-pointer broke a 55-55 tie with 6:39 to go, the Wolverines led the rest of the way.

Michigan's upset exemplifies the role reversals between the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten this postseason.

The ACC led all conferences with nine NCAA Tournament invitations and was billed as the best league in the nation this season. The Big Ten had a disappointing regular season and had none of its teams seeded higher than fourth in the NCAA field.

Yet the Big Ten already has sent three teams to the Sweet 16 with Purdue, Wisconsin and Michigan advancing. In the meantime, the ACC doesn't have any regional semifinalists yet and is down to just two teams left in the tournament: North Carolina and Duke.

North Carolina faces Arkansas and Duke meets South Carolina later today as the two traditional ACC heavyweights chase Sweet 16 berths.

The ACC's struggles represent a stunning turn of events for a team that had done very well in March lately. The ACC had four regional finalists last season, including Final Four participants North Carolina and Syracuse. The ACC also sent three teams to the regional finals in 2015, with Duke winning the national title.