While Michigan’s best player was dealing with an injury and was admittedly off throughout the Final Four, Elliot Cadeau more than stepped up and filled the void in Indianapolis.
Now, he’s headed home with an extra trophy in hand.
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Shortly after leading Michigan to a national championship on Monday night, Cadeau was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.
Cadeau dropped a game-high 19 points in Michigan’s win on Monday night while shooting 5-of-11 from the field. That marked his highest-scoring game of the tournament. He had a double-double with 13 points and 10 assists in Michigan’s blowout win over Arizona in the semifinals on Saturday night, too. While Aday Mara was the leading scorer against the Wildcats with his 26 points, Cadeau controlled the game and put up double-digit assists. He averaged 7.5 assists throughout the tournament.
Cadeau transferred into Michigan last summer after spending his first two years at North Carolina. He averaged a career-high 10.3 points per game this season with 5.9 assists and 2.7 rebounds per contest while helping the Wolverines dominate in the Big Ten and claim a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
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Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg, the Big Ten’s Player of the Year, was limited in Monday’s title game after he sprained his MCL and rolled his left ankle in their semifinal matchup with Arizona. While he played on Monday night, he struggled at times and even admitted at halftime that he “felt awful.” He just wasn’t himself.
But Cadeau once again stepped up and got the job done for Michigan. Cadeau and the Wolverines held on in the final minutes to beat UConn 69-63 on Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. That gave them their first national championship since 1989. Lendeborg added 13 points, and Morez Johnson finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Michigan went just 2-15 from behind the arc.
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Alex Karaban led UConn with 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Huskies, who stunned Duke in the Elite Eight to even make the Final Four before beating Illinois on Saturday night, went 9-of-33 from the 3-point line.
The Wolverines’ win also made history for the Big Ten conference, which now also currently holds national titles in football and women’s basketball after UCLA beat South Carolina in the women’s NCAA championship on Sunday afternoon. Michigan’s championship marks the first in men’s basketball for the conference since 2000, when Tom Izzo led Michigan State to a title.