The Michigan Wolverines are national champions for the first time since 1989!
The Wolverines defeated the UConn Huskies, 69-63, in the National Championship of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana. Elliot Cadeau was phenominal in the ultimate win, scoring 19 points to help Michigan finish its historic season.
Here’s how it all went down.
FIRST HALF
The National Championship started at a slow pace, with both teams using the entire shot clock to find the perfect look as tension and anxiety pierced
through the atmosphere. Morez Johnson Jr. broke the scoring open with a basket down low, Tarris Reed Jr. followed with one of his own, and Elliot Cadeau cut through the defense to get on the board as well.
Defense was on full display early, as Reed and Mara battled inside the arc and neither team could connect from three. Trailing 11-10, UConn put together a small run. Malachi Smith got inside for two, Alex Karaban drained his first three-pointer, and Smith made a nice move on Cadeau to help the Huskies take their biggest lead of the game at 18-15.
Through 13 minutes, Yaxel Lendeborg, Trey McKenney and Nimari Burnett had yet to score, with Johnson and Cadeau accounting for the Wolverines’ first 16 points.
While Michigan couldn’t buy a bucket over the next four minutes, it drew fouls and stayed within striking distance from the charity stripe. The Wolverines earned trips to the line on three straight possessions and reclaimed the lead at the 6:17 mark, 21-20, all without making a field goal.
Michigan then went on another drought, failing to convert from the field for four and a half minutes. But UConn continued to get into foul trouble, with starting guards Solo Ball and Silas Demary Jr. picking up two fouls each, and Karaban being whistled for a Flagrant 1 hook-and-hold.
The Wolverines capitalized on the sequence in a big way. Johnson sank both free throws from the flagrant foul, Lendeborg got on the board with a layup inside and Mara capped a 6-0 run with a post move.
UConn wouldn’t go away. Ball knocked down another three while Michigan was 0-for-8 from deep. But Mara continued to find mismatches in the paint, and Roddy Gayle Jr. electrified the crowd with a thunderous put-back dunk to send the teams into the locker room.
Both teams struggled to shoot in the first half. Michigan converted on 11-of-30 attempts without making a single three-pointer, while UConn was slightly worse, going 10-of-30 from the field and 5-of-15 from deep. The biggest difference was at the free throw line, where Michigan held a commanding 11-of-12 advantage to UConn’s 4-of-6.
HALFTIME: MICHIGAN 33, CONNECTICUT 29
SECOND HALF
The second half opened even more sluggishly than the first, with each team committing three turnovers apiece in the opening three minutes.
Michigan quickly seized control, however. Cadeau broke the offensive drought with a big and-one, drawing Ball’s fourth foul in the process. Gayle Jr. swatted away Karaban’s layup attempt at the rim, and Lendeborg converted his own and-one to extend the advantage. At the first media timeout of the half, the Wolverines led 41-33.
Out of the stoppage, Michigan kept its foot on the gas. McKenney hit a mid-range jumper to get on the board, and Cadeau went on a personal 5-0 run. That was capped by the team’s first three-pointer of the game to push the lead into double digits with 13 minutes remaining.
The Wolverines continued to impose their will near the glass, as Johnson swatted away two more shots and Lendeborg ran down a UConn fast-break attempt to hold the Huskies to just one make over a span of more than five minutes. Michigan’s offense stalled during that stretch — shooting just 2-of-10 — before Mara emphatically slammed home a lob from Gayle to energize the crowd at the under-eight timeout.
With time winding down, both teams traded jabs as tensions rose. Michigan followed the Mara dunk with four more points from Lendeborg and McKenney, and UConn answered with six straight, courtesy of a pair of Braylon Mullins triples.
Karaban then hit a big three out of the final media timeout to give the Huskies some momentum, but the freshman phenom Trey McKenney sank the biggest shot of the night at the 1:49 mark — a dagger three that pushed Michigan’s lead to nine, 65-56.
UConn hung around, first with two Karaban free throws, and next, from a big Ball three-pointer, to come back within four points. The Wolverines made it interesting with a few misses from the charity stripe, but their defense hunkered down when it mattered most, forcing a missed three-pointer with fewer than 20 seconds to go.
If his night couldn’t have been more special, McKenney was perfect from the line on the other end to push Michigan’s lead to six and the Wolverines walked away national champions.
FINAL SCORE: MICHIGAN 69, CONNECTICUT 63
MICHIGAN STAT LEADERS
- G Elliot Cadeau: 19 points, 2 assists, 2 steals
- F Yaxel Lendeborg: 13 points, 2 rebounds
- F Morez Johnson Jr.: 12 points, 10 rebounds
- C Aday Mara: 8 points, 4 rebounds
CONNECTICUT STAT LEADERS
- F Alex Karaban: 17 points, 11 rebounds
- G Braylon Mullins: 11 points, 6 rebounds
- C Tarris Reed Jr.: 13 points, 14 rebounds
- G Solo Ball: 11 points
