Michigan basketball is the king of the rivalry this year.
Michigan beat Michigan State, 90-80, in an epic season finale at Crisler Center on Sunday, March 8, after beating the Spartans earlier this year at the Breslin Center.
It’s the first time since 2014 that Michigan has swept both regular season matchups.
Yaxel Lendeborg was the king of the day for the Wolverines, scoring 27 points with ridiculous efficiency from deep, hitting 5 of 6 3s.
Jeremy Fears Jr. recovered well after another early controversy, a kick to Elliot Cadeau’s groin, scoring 22 points and adding nine assists.
Michigan finishes the regular season with just two total losses and one in Big Ten play and is a sure-fire 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament before even playing a game in the Big Ten Tournament.
Despite the loss, MSU is still in good shape for March Madness as well, as the Spartans entered Sunday as a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament, according to Bracket Matrix, and have a triple-bye in the Big Ten Tournament.
Here’s a recap of the game:
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Michigan vs Michigan State basketball live score updates, highlights
FINAL: Michigan ices game to seal rivalry sweep
SCORE: Michigan 90, MSU 80.
With just 3:47 in the game, MSU was down by just three points, 73-70.
Big moments call for big plays, and that’s exactly what Yaxel Lendeborg did, draining his fifth 3-pointer of the day for a six point lead. Even though MSU scored on its next possession, it ultimately felt like the dagger.
Morez Johnson Jr. finished a perfectly-executed inbounds play out of a timeout to take a 78-72 lead, MSU missed a shot, Johnson hit a free throw to extend the lead to seven, then missed the second and Michigan got the rebound, the final key sequence in yet another impressive win for Michigan.
Yaxel Lendeborg again
What were we saying about big shots?
Yaxel Lendeborg answered the call, hitting an incredibly tough 3-pointer, his fifth on six tries.
We’re in grind time
SCORE: Michigan 73, MSU 68.
This is when games are won and lost.
Who can make the shots? Who can get the loose balls.
It’s that time of the game.
No Fears, big problems
Izzo tried to get his star point guard a quick breather, but MSU’s offense just grinds to a hault without him.
As Freep’s Chris Solari pointed out, he missed an easy lob pass to high-flier Coen Carr, one of many examples of why MSU needs Fears in there.
This game has everything
SCORE: Michigan 51, MSU 51.
Technical fouls, flagrant fouls, highlight plays and fantastic defense. This game has it all.
Michigan came out guns blazing in the second half, but MSU just kept punching back.
Mara picked up a flagrant foul after getting stripped by Fears and then fouled him to stop a clear fastbreak.
Fears hit both free throws, then Jaxon Kohler hit a midrange jumper to tie the game.
HALFTIME: Michigan and MSU going shot for shot
SCORE: Michigan 42, MSU 41.
Yaxel Lendeborg, what a half. Michigan’s star player finished the first period 5-for-7 from the field for 19 points, which included six three throws and a highlight juke move on MSU’s Coen Carr.
But credit to MSU, because they’re not going away at all. In fact, if Michigan didn’t score five straight to end the half, the Spartans would’ve been leading at the half.
Jaxon Kohler has 12 points on an efficient 5-for-7 shooting, Jeremy Fears Jr. has 10 points and four assists and Carson Cooper has 11 points and five rebounds for MSU.
Buckle up for the second half.
Tom Izzo doesn’t like technical on Jeremy Fears Jr.
In his interview with CBS’ Tracy Wolfson, Tom Izzo blamed the earlier noise this season surrounding Jeremy Fears Jr. and some allegedly dirty plays that were first brought to light by Dusty May for the technical review and subsequent call on Fears.
“Y’know what, it’s all cause of what happened earlier and now every microscope’s on him,” Izzo said. “I don’t like that, OK, but I told him, I don’t even want him breathin’ wrong. But the fouls is what’s killing us, the fouls and the offensive boards, other than that, I thought we’re playing pretty good.”
We’ve got a basketball game now
SCORE: Michigan 23, MSU 19.
In Dusty May’s interview with CBS during the first half, he sarcastically said at some point the semantics, technical and everything else will move aside and a basketball game will breakout.
That’s finally happened.
Michigan took a nine point lead with 9:00 to go in the game, but MSU punched back with some important baskets to cut the lead to four.
Aday Mara gets technical foul seconds later
Controversy again for Jeremy Fears Jr. as he gets another technical foul
It took just over five minutes for another controversy for Jeremy Fears Jr.
MSU’s star point guard was issued a dead-ball technical foul after his right leg flared back and hit Elliot Cadeau in the groin area.
“It’s an unnatural movement,” referee expert Gene Steratore said on CBS as referees reviewed the play originally ruled a defensive foul on Cadeau.
The play was initially called a foul on Cadeau, but after Fears’ leg flare, Michigan instead got two free throws, which they hit, and then the ball.
Strong defense early from MSU
SCORE: MSU 7, Michigan 5.
The home team looked a little more dicey on the offensive end to start this one, with Michigan shooting just 1-for-8 to start.
MSU played some stifling defense and fed big man Carson Cooper to help them get a strong start, something that has been a weakness this year.
Michigan vs. Michigan State starting lineups
No surprises for either team.
Best on best in the season finale.
Yaxel Lendeborg wears shirt with photo of Dusty May’s memorable East Lansing moment
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, and the last matchup between Michigan and Michigan State can be summed up in one photo.
Freep’s Tony Garcia snapped a photo in East Lansing of Dusty May taking in the pregame environment at the Breslin Center as the MSU fans let him have it. May could only smile and laugh and when Michigan went on to win the game, the photo became infamous.
In the final regular season game of Yaxel Lendeborg’s career with MSU in town, he wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to wear a graphic T-shirt commemorating the moment along with a quote from May about the moment.
Check it out in the tweet below:
Warmups underway for Michigan State
Looks like Coen Carr is dunking in Ann Arbor.
Because of course Coen Carr is dunking in Ann Arbor.
Coaching turnover in the state of Michigan
Tom Izzo and Dusty May are here to stay. But two of the other basketball programs will be searching for new head coaches.
Western Michigan announced it has fired former Michigan State assistant Dwayne Stephens after four seasons, while Eastern Michigan also announced Sunday it has mutually agreed to part ways with Stan Heath.
“We are grateful for Coach Heath’s commitment to this program, which spans five years as head coach and more than four decades as a student-athlete and proud alumnus of this University,” said Scott Wetherbee, Eastern Michigan’s athletic director in a statement. “He cares deeply about Eastern Michigan, and I wish him and his family the very best.”
The 2025-26 season was Heath’s fifth in Ypsilanti and he posted a 57-99 record during that time. He previously coached for seven seasons at South Florida and for five years at Arkansas.
Stephens, meanwhile, took over in Kalamazoo in 2022-23 and never got the program off the ground, going 42-84 over his four years and never posting a record better than 12-20.
“Coach Stephens has elevated our men’s basketball program in many ways during his tenure as our Head Coach,” Bartholomae said. “He has represented our Broncos with integrity and class, and we are grateful for his contributions. As the world of intercollegiate athletics continues to evolve, and as we anticipate the opening of the finest basketball training and competition venue in the Country, we believe it is in our best interests to seek new leadership and direction for our program. These decisions are challenging, and we will move forward with a focus on championship level success in an exciting new home environment.”
Michigan vs Michigan State basketball game time
Michigan vs Michigan State basketball TV channel
The Michigan vs. Michigan State game will be televised nationally on CBS and can be streamed on Paramount+.
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Michigan vs Michigan State basketball announcers
CBS is breaking out the A-crew with less than two weeks to go before the 2026 NCAA Tournament for the regular season finale. Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill will call the biggest March Madness games, including the national championship, but first will make a stop in Ann Arbor.
Michigan vs Michigan State basketball betting odds
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Michigan and Michigan State basketball upcoming schedules
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You can reach Andrew at abirkle@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan completes rivalry sweep of MSU with tough home win: Recap
Reporting by Andrew Birkle, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
