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Injuries could play a factor, as several players took serious lumps in their semifinal games. Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg sprained the MCL in his left knee<\/a> and also re-injured his ankle. UConn\u2019s Solo Ball donned a walking boot<\/a> after spraining his foot Saturday and teammate Silas Demary Jr. has been playing through a high left ankle sprain. All three are playing on Monday.<\/p>\n Will a long national title drought get broken for school and conference, or will we see the continuation of the best NCAA tournament run since UCLA?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s everything you need to know ahead of the matchup between Michigan and UConn<\/a>. (Follow along below for live updates.)<\/p>\n Date: Monday, April 6, 2026 Live31 updatesMon, April 6, 2026 at 5:50 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 7:04 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n UConn is 33.3% from the field and Michigan is 36.7%, including 0 of 8 on 3s. Will either offense get things going in the second half? That could decided this championship game.<\/p>\n Ben Fawkes<\/p>\n UConn \u2014 a 4.5-point first-half underdog \u2014 hung on to cover the spread at halftime, as the Huskies are down 33-29 heading into the locker room. The game stayed under the first-half total of 69.5.<\/p>\n The full-game total is down to 138.5 from a pregame number of 144.5.<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 6:54 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n The Michigan star admitted he\u2019s nowhere near 100% after hurting his knee two days ago.<\/p>\n Lendeborg has 4 points on 1 of 5 shooting, 0 rebounds, 0 assists.<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 6:47 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n Michigan ended the half with some momentum as it\u2019s finding ways to score inside consistently (22 paint points). UM\u2019s Morez Johnson Jr. has 10 points to lead all scorers so far.<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 6:42 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n Michigan is on a 6-0 run thanks partly to a hook-and-hold flagrant foul call on UConn for this play. Wolverines lead 29-25 late in the 1st half.<\/p>\n Did they get the call right?<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 6:32 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n Both teams are struggling to score, shooting under 40%. UConn is clinging to a 25-23 lead over Michigan, which is 0 for 7 from 3-point range.<\/p>\n But the fouls are stacking up for the Huskies.<\/p>\n Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n Michigan: Elliot Cadeau<\/p>\n UConn: Silas Demary Jr., Solo Ball<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 6:20 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n This is a low-scoring, grind-it-out game just like the Huskies like to play. They\u2019re ahead 18-17 at the 7-minute mark of the 1st half.<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 6:09 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n The Huskies weathered the early Michigan storm and made a couple 3s to get back into it. Michigan leads 11-10 with UConn headed to the free throw line. 11:57 to go in 1st half.<\/p>\n Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n The Michigan star hasn\u2019t looked too explosive early \u2014 and hasn\u2019t been involved much either. He\u2019s been hanging out around the 3-point line on offense so far.<\/p>\n Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n The Wolverines have a big, big advantage \u2014 literally, too \u2014 in the frontcourt. And Michigan is already outrebounding UConn 6-2.<\/p>\n Ben Fawkes<\/p>\n One bettor at BetMGM has $325,000 on Michigan covering the spread at a variety of numbers:<\/p>\n $150,000 on Michigan -4.5 (-170)<\/p>\n $100,000 on Michigan -5.5 (-140)<\/p>\n $50,000 on Michigan -6.5 (-115)<\/p>\n $25,000 on Michigan -7.5 (+105)<\/p>\n How will he fare?<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 6:00 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n The Wolverines are scoring inside with ease in the early going. It\u2019s a quick 9-4 lead for Michigan.<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 5:53 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n The final game of the 2025-26 college basketball season is underway. A champion will be crowned in 40 minutes of play.<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 5:52 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 5:30 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n Injuries could play a huge factor in this game. UConn G Silas Demary Jr. has been playing through a high left ankle sprain he suffered in the Big East tournament against St. John\u2019s.<\/p>\n As Demary isn\u2019t at 100%, it\u2019s clear Michigan F Yaxel Lendeborg won\u2019t be either. After leaving the game early with two fouls, Lendeborg stepped on the foot of an Arizona player. He tried to walk it off, but left the game and didn\u2019t return until after halftime.<\/p>\n How explosive can Lendeborg be getting to the rim? Michigan showed that its offense doesn\u2019t have to revolve around him against a top-tier opponent. But there\u2019s no disputing the Wolverines are better with their consensus All-American.<\/p>\n More on players to watch, keys to the game from Nick Bromberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 5:24 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n Mon, April 6, 2026 at 5:21 PM PDT<\/p>\n Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n The key players for each team look good in warmups.<\/p>\n Nick Bromberg<\/p>\n It\u2019s still a bit hard to fathom how Michigan turned what was supposed to be the game of the year in college basketball into a complete domination<\/a> \u2014 all while Yaxel Lendeborg was sidelined for much of the first half with foul trouble and then hobbled by left leg injuries.<\/a><\/p>\n The final score of the Wolverines\u2019 91-73 win over Arizona on Saturday night doesn\u2019t really show just how much of a blowout the game was. Michigan led by 16 at halftime and stretched the lead out to 29 points in the second half. Those margins were, by far, the biggest Arizona had faced all season.<\/p>\n Michigan is the first team in NCAA tournament history to score at least 90 points in each of its first five games of March Madness. What are the odds they\u2019ll go 6-for-6?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to crown a champion. Monday night\u2019s NCAA tournament national championship game is full of intrigue. UConn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,288359,8440,704,85,2277],"class_list":{"0":"post-590329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-dan-hurley","12":"tag-michigan","13":"tag-ncaa","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uconn"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Time: 8:50 p.m. ET
TV channel: TBS, TNT, TruTV
Streaming: DirecTV<\/a>, YouTube TV<\/a> and more
Odds: Michigan favored by 6.5 points<\/a> | Prediction<\/a>
Preview: Players to watch, keys to the game<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775527809_618_dims.jpeg\"\/)
Mon, April 6, 2026 at 6:57 PM PDT<\/p>\n![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775527809_819_dims.jpeg\"\/)
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