CHICAGO — Michigan graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg held a pose after creating and connecting on an open 3-pointer early in the second half of the Wolverines’ NCAA Tournament Midwest Region semifinal against Alabama on Friday.
He admitted it was to alert the Crimson Tide of what could happen if they kept a freshman defending him.
The matchup hardly mattered as Lendeborg asserted himself throughout. He produced 23 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, boosting the top-seeded Wolverines to a 90-77 victory against fourth-seeded Alabama.
Michigan outscored the Crimson Tide 43-28 in the second half.
“Once we started slowing the game down, being a lot more physical and trying to dominate the paint, we started finding more success,” Lendeborg said.
Michigan (34-3) advances to an Elite Eight game on Sunday against sixth-seeded Tennessee. The Volunteers defeated second-seeded Iowa State 76-62 in the late regional semifinal on Friday.
Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney scored 17 points apiece as the Wolverines won for the ninth time in 10 games.
Alabama (25-10) led by nine points in the opening minutes but couldn’t maintain a furious pace — or keep the Wolverines from exceeding it down the stretch.
“I think what went wrong was our energy and effort,” Alabama’s Latrell Wrightsell said. “I think we started the game off with the utmost energy. We had an edge to us. Coach (Nate) Oats talks about blue-collar points, and that’s just all hard-work things, basically tips, deflections, offensive rebounding, loose balls, stuff like that.”
Michigan seized control with an 18-6 run early in the second half, mixing success from long range with a collection of high-IQ plays.
Lendeborg started the spurt with a crisp outlet pass off a steal near the Wolverines’ end line, hitting Nimari Burnett in stride as he raced to the basket for a fastbreak dunk.
“As soon as he got the ball in his hands, I was out,” Burnett said. “And he loves football passes. So I was just a wide receiver.”
Roddy Gayle Jr., Cadeau and Lendeborg hit 3-pointers during the run as Michigan ramped up its urgency to reach its first regional final since 2021. The Wolverines never trailed after Lendeborg connected from distance off an offensive rebound with 19:09 remaining.
“It was us coming together and just understanding that we’re going home if we don’t play defense and we can only win the game on the defensive end,” Cadeau said.
Alabama’s Labaron Philon Jr. led all scorers with 35 points. He went 6-for-14 from 3-point range as the Crimson Tide shot 29.8% from deep compared to 48.1% for the Wolverines.
Wrightsell added 15 points for Alabama while Aiden Sherrell scored 10. Philon grabbed seven boards.
Gayle (16 points) also finished in double figures for the Wolverines. Morez Johnson Jr. grabbed eight rebounds and Cadeau added seven assists.
Michigan generated numerous plays to seemingly shift the momentum in the early going. Lendeborg scored four quick points to help the Wolverines emerge from a quick 11-2 hole. Cadeau connected with Johnson on an alley-oop dunk.
Still, Alabama consistently provided answers — some more graceful than others. Amari Allen darted through the lane for an uncontested dunk one minute, while Houston Mallette stalked a loose ball along the baseline and retreated behind the arc to hit a 3-pointer the next.
Many Wolverines supporters rose to their feet after a Gayle 3-pointer rattled in for a 40-38 lead with 3:10 left before the break. After Wrightsell swished a trey on the ensuing possession, Michigan scored the next seven points in 48 seconds to build its largest lead of the first half.
Not to be deterred, the Crimson Tide closed on an 8-0 run — with all the scoring from Philon — to take a 49-47 halftime lead.
“Tough way to go out, but … I thought our guys kept fighting all the way to the end,” Oats said.
–Kevin Druley, Field Level Media
