CHICAGO — Yaxel Lendeborg made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining, giving No. 3 Michigan a 68-65 win over No. 23 Wisconsin on Saturday to advance to the Big Ten tournament championship.
Aday Mara scored 16 points and Elliot Cadeau had 15 as top-seeded Michigan (31-2) avenged its only conference loss from the regular season, a 91-88 setback against Wisconsin on Jan. 10. Mara also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked five shots.
Michigan is going for its second straight Big Ten tournament title and fifth overall. It will play UCLA or No. 18 Purdue in Sunday’s final.
Lendeborg got off to another slow start after he had six points in Friday’s quarterfinal victory over Ohio State. But the Big Ten Player of the Year began to assert himself right before halftime, and he connected on the biggest shot of the game.
Lendeborg grabbed an offensive rebound and passed to Cadeau for a 3 with 45 seconds left, giving Michigan a 65-62 lead. But Nick Boyd responded with a tying 3 for Wisconsin.
With the United Center crowd standing in anticipation, Michigan tried to find Lendeborg inside on its last possession. But Lendeborg ended up coming back outside before getting a pass from Cadeau and drilling the winning 3.
Wisconsin’s Austin Rapp made six 3-pointers while scoring all of his 18 points in the second half. Boyd had 14 points on 6-for-20 shooting a day after he scored a career-high 38 points in a wild overtime victory over No. 9 Illinois.
The Badgers (24-10) had reached the Big Ten tournament final in each of the past two years, losing to the Wolverines in 2025.
Shaking off a sluggish start, Michigan closed the first half with a 10-2 run. Lendeborg made a 3-pointer, his first basket of the game, with 11 seconds left to tie it at 28.
The Wolverines were shooting 26.7% (8-for-30) from the field at the break, but the Badgers weren’t much better at 32.3% (10-for-31).
Michigan beat UCLA and Purdue in back-to-back games in mid-February. It routed the Bruins 86-56 before winning 91-80 at the Boilermakers.
Leave a Reply