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Michigan destroys Arizona, advances to national championship vs. UConn
By Ethan Stone
Published:
This one was over rather quickly.
The Michigan Wolverines, down star forward Yaxel Lendeborg for most of the first half, absolutely mollywhopped 1-seed Arizona Saturday night, 91-73, to advance to the national championship game against UConn on Monday.
It’s tough to put into words how impressive of a performance this was for Michigan to those who have not followed college basketball this year. Arizona had not lost since mid-February and held wins over several top 10 teams during that span. The Wildcats beat Florida, Alabama and UConn — which will face Michigan on Monday — in the non-conference slate and had lost just twice heading into Saturday’s one-sided beatdown.
And, again, Michigan did it all without their best player on the court for the majority of the game.
Yaxel Lendeborg exited in the first half after collecting 2 quick fouls. He didn’t stay on the bench long but returned to the bench (and eventually the locker room) after reaggravating an ankle injury that he dealt with during the Big Ten tournament.
Despite the pain, Lendeborg returned to play briefly in the second half. As a testament to how effective Lendeborg is on the court, he finished Saturday’s game with 11 points despite playing only 14 minutes.
While Lendeborg did make an impact in his limited minutes, it was Aday Mara and Elliot Cadeau who fueled the win for Michigan and head coach Dusty May. Mara, a 7-3 center who transferred in from UCLA, posted a career-high 25 points with 2 blocks and 8 boards. He was dunking, blocking shots, hitting jumpers and being a general nuisance on defense against one of the best offensive teams in the country.
Aday Mara was everywhere.
As was Cadeau, who posted a 13-point, 10 assist double-double with 4 steals. It wasn’t Cadeau’s most efficient outing, but he controlled this game throughout, outplaying Arizona’s Jaden Bradley from start to finish.
Everything went right for Michigan on Saturday, but the Wolverines’ defense might have been the most important factor of them all. Arizona posted just 5 assists on the night as Michigan completely shut down Bradley, Brayden Burries and the rest of Arizona’s guards. That forced the Wildcats to work inside, where Mara and Morez Johnson were able to go to work. By game’s end, Arizona had hit just 26 of its 68 shot attempts.
And then there were 2.
Michigan has been a force all season, but it would be unwise to count Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies out right now. The Huskies find ways to win in March and have lost just once across their last 4 trips to the NCAA Tournament.
We’re in for a heck of a finish to the 2025-26 season, folks. Who ya got?
Ethan Stone was an editor for his student newspaper at the University of Tennessee and is now a News Manager for Saturday Tradition.