INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Yaxel Lendeborg stood at midcourt with a Michigan staffer, going through the paces of a halftime warmup at the giant Final Four midcourt logo. He jogged lightly forward, backward, then
shuffled side to side before hopping around.
He spent much of that time grimacing or biting his lip. And he didn't look much more comfortable when he did return to start the second half Saturday night against Arizona.
The good news is Michigan didn't need much from the first-team All-American as it cruised to an unexpectedly lopsided 91-73 win in a matchup of the NCAA Tournament's last two No. 1 seeds, not with the Wolverines' depth simply overwhelming the Wildcats. The question now is how Lendeborg's injuries might affect him for Monday night's NCAA title game against UConn.
Lendeborg said he rolled his left ankle and sprained his MCL.
“It’s a weird feeling to have the pain I am having right now,” Lendeborg said on the postgame broadcast. “I have never experienced it before. ... But I’m going to bust through. There’s no way I’m missing the game on Monday night no matter what goes on.”
Lendeborg finished with 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting in 14 minutes, including a pair of 3-pointers in his hobbled post-halftime minutes. For much of the second half, he rode an exercise bike behind the Michigan bench, clapping for baskets or screaming with glee as the Wolverines made big play after big play.
He also spent time late in the game sitting on the court near the end of the bench and almost alongside the photographers on the baseline before having an ice pack wrapped around his left knee. He wore that for the final minutes and still had it on as he carefully made his way through the postgame handshake line with the Wildcats.
Lendeborg had a rough start with two quick fouls and then exited after he stepped on the foot of Arizona big man Motiejus Krivas and twisted his left ankle, the same one he had tweaked during the loss to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament championship game. Lendeborg left the bench for trainers to retape his ankle and treat it with ice, returned briefly, then went back to the locker room.
Lendeborg also wore a brace on his left knee when he returned for the second half. Nevertheless, he immediately made an impact by burying a pair of 3-pointers in the opening 4 1/2 minutes of the second half to show he could be effective even when hobbled.
Still, Michigan had more than enough to put away Arizona, notably with 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara going for 26 points to lead five players in double figures. Michigan shot 47.8% and made 12 of 27 3-pointers.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound Lendeborg entered the game averaging 15.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
