INDIANAPOLIS – Michigan basketball probably didn’t need it. When you’re blowing teams out game after game, on the biggest stage, who needs bulletin board material?
Well, Yaxel Lendeborg did.
Before Michigan dismantled Arizona, 91-73, in its Final Four semifinal Saturday, April 4, at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Wolverines’ star forward said the team saw something it didn’t like.
“Um, I didn’t see the names, but it was like the TV guys, the announcers,” Lendeborg said. “It was like three of them. They all picked Arizona.”
Does Lendeborg (and his teammates) need to see the talking heads pick Connecticut to beat the Wolverines in the NCAA championship matchup Monday?
“Yeah,” he said. “We got to see that again, man. You should have seen our faces in the locker room when we saw that, man. It was crazy.”
It’s hard to imagine the Wolverines, as big, brawny and talented as they are, needing any more juice. But maybe that little bit of extra motivation took U-M from just winning the game, which most pundits (and head coach Dusty May, for that matter) expected to be a close game between two 1-seeds, to blowing out Arizona.
Everything was supposed to be decided by how physical the teams could be inside. That was Arizona’s calling card. The Wolverines were considered a better perimeter team.
In the paint, technically, Michigan and Arizona tied with 36 points. Truthfully, it wasn’t that close. After Michigan took a 30-point lead in the second half, the Wolverines stopped challenging the Wildcats aggressively at the rim to avoid fouls.
Yes, Arizona outrebounded Michigan, but the Wolverines outshot the Wildcats wildly – from the field, beyond the arc and at the line. They even had more second-chance points, 19-12. And they never trailed, quickly building a 10-1 lead.
Is any team – UConn or otherwise – beating Michigan if the Wolverines play that kind of aggressive, physical game and make their shots from outside?
“I don’t think so,” Lendeborg said. “I think the team that’s gonna beat us is us, you know? As long as we stay within the program and keep playing within each other, we’re gonna be the best team in the nation.”
Roddy Gayle Jr., who had a couple of monster dunks Saturday, went even further when asked if any team could beat the Wolverines when they’re playing their brand – big, rugged basketball combined with creative, versatile scoring.
“Nah, never,” he said. “I feel like that’s just kind of who we are, especially unselfish we are. I feel like we can hurt you in more than one way. So I feel like that’s just a testament to our program and how it was built.
“I just think that we were playing [with] that pace and that level of focus, I think we’re unbeatable.”
A good example of Michigan’s unselfish approach came from point guard Elliot Cadeau, who struggled with his shot early and finished the first half 2-for-14, with just one of five 3-point attempts falling. So he found the open man instead – with six assists in the first half (of 10 in all) – and also stayed focused on defense, with three steals.
When Cadeau found his shot in the second half, Arizona had no chance, and no answers for the Wolverines, inside or on the perimeter. Around the time Trey McKenney hit a 3 to put Michigan up, 77-47, near the midway point of the second half, the Wolverines could see the Wildcats’ demoralization.
“Yeah, I definitely did,” guard Nimari Burnett said. “But also, you know, they wanted to win the game desperately, and so that’s kind of what happens when the game is getting a little bit out of reach.
“But they continue to play hard and found different ways to, you know, make the game a little interesting down the stretch.”
Interesting? Maybe, if you think watching a mean kid burn ants with a magnifying glass is interesting. Because that’s the level of cold, calculating torture Michigan inflicted on Arizona.
“I mean, they were outstanding tonight,” Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Really had us on our heels tonight. We never could get in a rhythm. So they get a ton of credit for that. No one’s been able to do that to us all year. So it was an impressive performance by them.”
Now it’s UConn’s turn. A lot will be made of coach Dan Hurley and his Huskies’ back-to-back titles in 2023 and ’24. It’s invaluable championship experience for a great, creative coach who uses size and screens expertly.
But UConn’s path has been a struggle over the past six weeks: some bad losses regular-season losses, an NCAA Tournament-opening 11-point win over 15-seed Furman, a blown 19-point lead against Michigan State in the Sweet 16 and, most recently, Braylon Mullins’ miracle shot to beat Duke in the Elite Eight.
Michigan, on the other hand, has only looked better while marching through the tournament with maize-and-blue jackboots, humbling and humiliating teams while becoming the first NCAA Tournament team to score at least 90 points in five games.
Maybe Hurley can conjure some more coaching magic and the Huskies get enough bounces their way and foul trouble for Michigan and Lendeborg being less effective on a bum knee.
That’s asking a lot.
And as long as they’re asking for such a bounty of good luck, maybe they can ask those TV talking heads to do the sensible thing and pick Michigan to win it all.
It may be their only chance.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball brings ‘unbeatable’ mojo to title game with UConn
Reporting by Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
