INDIANAPOLIS – A Michigan basketball star stopped playing in the middle of the conference championship game to pick up his gum and put it back in his mouth.
Tre Donaldson was incredible during Michigan’s championship weekend in Indianapolis. He finished the three-game run with 36 points, 22 assists, and 10 rebounds while shooting 12-29 from the floor and 6-17 from beyond the arc.
Donaldson saved Michigan with a last-second layup against Maryland, taking a handoff and going nearly coast-to-coast on three dribbles with the Wolverines down by one.
He also drilled a go-ahead three later sealed the win with a pair of free throws in the championship game vs. Wisconsin.
But he did have one really strange play while the game was still very much in doubt.
With about 15:25 left in the game and Wisconsin leading 32-27, Donaldson was guarding Wisconsin star John Tonje in the corner when CBS cameras caught him accidentally spitting his gum out on the floor.
Donaldson reached down to pick up the gum, but as he did, Tonje cut to the basket, caught a pass, and forced a foul on Donaldson.
Tonje made both free throws to give the Badgers a seven-point game. It was also the third foul on Donaldson, which forced him to sit for the next five minutes.
Oh yeah, and replay showed Donaldson put the gum back in his mouth. As the Big Ten Network said, “five-second rule,” right?
It wouldn’t have been nearly as funny for Michigan fans if the team had lost by a point. But Donaldson was instrumental in getting the Wolverines to that point, and they won the championship anyway.
So now, it’s all laughs in Ann Arbor.
Five-second rule 😆@umichbball's Tre Donaldson definitely subscribes to it. #B1GMBBT on CBS 📺 pic.twitter.com/R27p2HldgU
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 16, 2025
