WASHINGTON _ The Michigan basketball team woke up early to make it to the Big Ten tournament Thursday.
Now the Wolverines plan to stay.
Taking a morning flight to D.C. after enduring a plane crash Wednesday, the No. 8-seeded Wolverines had the same aggressiveness from the past five weeks and pounded No. 9 seed Illinois, 75-55, at the Verizon Center.
Led, as usual, by Derrick Walton Jr. with 19 points, including a few late 3-pointers, the Wolverines (21-11) led from tip to buzzer as John Beilein became U-M's winningest coach ever (210 victories).
He'll get a chance to extend that record Friday, when the Wolverines face No. 1 seed Purdue, a team U-M beat by 12 a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Illinois' (18-14) outside chance at the NCAA Tournament vanished.
Three Wolverines joined Walton in double figures, including Zak Irvin with 18 and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman with 17.
With 10 steals, U-M continued its stingy defense.
Michigan looked nothing like a team that endured 24 uncomfortable hours: from practicing in the dark Wednesday in Ann Arbor, Mich., to the plane incident to uncertainty about how they would get to Washington.
Rolling into the locker room at 10:40 a.m. for the 11 a.m. game, the Big Ten gave them an extra 25 minutes before tip-off.
Wearing practice jerseys and an assortment of their Jumpman shoes that they grabbed back in Ann Arbor, Mich. _ Abdur-Rahkman's were pink _ they were laughing during warm-ups and seemed looser than normal.
Beilein has won his first Big Ten tournament game in each of his 10 seasons. In the first seven years or his tenure, the Wolverines flamed out in the next game. But in 2014, they reached the title game and, last year, won two games to secure an NCAA Tournament berth.
Michigan pushed its lead to 31-11 with 7:18 left in the first half. Then the letdown arrived.
After hitting bottom, the Illini found life with a 15-2 run, started by Tracy Abrams' nine straight points. That made it a 40-29 game at halftime, but considering how Michigan spent the previous 20 hours, no one was complaining.
