Michigan rolls over Arizona in Final Four, will play UConn for national title
INDIANAPOLIS — Michigan overpowered Arizona early and humbled the ’Cats all night long, turning the Final Four meeting billed as the Game of the Year into a 91-73 Wolverines highlight reel Saturday night.
Junior center Aday Mara scored a career-high 26 points and had nine rebounds, a dinged-up Yaxel Lendeborg had 11 points in 14 minutes and the Blue blew through their fifth straight March Madness opponent by double digits while becoming the first team to break 90 points five times in a single tournament.
Next up, a title matchup Monday against UConn, a 71-62 winner over Illinois in the early semifinal that was billed — wrongly — as the undercard to this battle of No. 1 seeds.
“It's going to take a full 40 minutes of fighting,” Lendeborg said.
This one was over in about five — which was quite a surprise, considering Michigan and Arizona came in with the nation’s top two defenses, a pair of top-five offenses and somewhere between eight and a dozen NBA stars between them.
But it was the Wolverines (36-3) who looked like pros, running to a double-digit lead only 5:31 into the contest, then swatting and slamming Arizona into oblivion.
“This game was very indicative of how this group has played throughout the season,” Michigan coach Dusty May said.
Koa Peat had a quiet 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Big 12 champion Wildcats (36-3). They shot 6 for 17 from 3, 36% overall and had two assists and nine turnovers over a first half that ended with them trailing 48-32. Sparkplug Jaden Bradley got his fourth foul 94 seconds into the second half and finished with 13 points, most in extended garbage time.
Arizona’s only two losses before this were by four and by three back in February. They trailed by nine less than 2:30 into this one.
Michigan packed the paint on defense, basically giving the team that averaged the fifth-fewest 3 attempts in the country this year free rein from long distance, then daring Arizona to create inside. The Wildcats failed at both.
Even more impressive for Michigan was that it started this runaway without (maybe) its best player, Lendeborg, who committed two fouls within five seconds of each other less than 90 seconds into the game, then landed on Motiejus Krivas’ foot a little later and went to the locker room for ice.
Lendeborg called the injury “a weird feeling” and said he rolled his ankle and sprained his MCL.
“There’s no way I’m missing the game on Monday no matter what goes on,” he said.
In fact, he returned for the second half and made two quick 3s to push the lead past 20. He was on the bench — and the stationary bike — for good with 7:10 left, plenty of time for rest and ice to get ready for UConn, which is going for its third title in four years.
Michigan is going for only the program’s second championship (1989), though its most famous team — the Fab Five, which made the final twice in the early ’90s — was in the building to helm an “alt-cast” of this Michigan celebration.
Some of this — the dunks, the alley-oops, the rim hanging and jersey tugging (but no baggy shorts) — might have reminded them of them.
Freshman Trey McKenny made four 3s and had 16 points for the Wolverines. Elliot Cadeau overcame a bout with his nut allergy to compile a crazy stat line: 13 points, 10 assists, six turnovers, five rebounds and four steals on 5-for-17 shooting. Even with that, Michigan finished 47.8% from the floor and 12 for 27 from 3.
About the only drama down the stretch was whether coach Dusty May’s team would join Jerry Tarkanian’s 1990 UNLV juggernaut as only the second team to hit triple digits at the Final Four in the modern era.
The Wolverines emptied the bench with a few minutes left and came up short, but no matter. Everybody knew who the better team was in this one — that it got figured out so early was the real shock.