<\/p>\n
Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg celebrates after defeating Tennessee in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Erin Hooley\/AP<\/p>\n
Michigan’s Roddy Gayle Jr. (11), Yaxel Lendeborg (23) and Elliot Cadeau (3) celebrate during the first half in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Tennessee, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Erin Hooley\/AP<\/p>\n
Michigan head coach Dusty May celebrates with his team after defeating Tennessee in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Erin Hooley\/AP<\/p>\n
Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg (23) celebrates during the second half in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Tennessee, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Erin Hooley\/AP<\/p>\n
Tennessee’s Felix Okpara heads to the bench during the second half in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Michigan, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Nam Y. Huh\/AP<\/p>\n
CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Yaxel Lendeborg scored 27 points, Elliot Cadeau had 10 assists and Michigan rolled into the Final Four, overwhelming Tennessee for a 95-62 victory in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.<\/p>\n
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Morez Johnson Jr. added 12 points for top-seeded Michigan, which posted its 11th victory this season by at least 30 points. Aday Mara had 11 points and blocked two shots in the Midwest Region final.<\/p>\n
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Making the most of its size and athleticism on both sides of the court, Michigan (35-3) advanced to its first Final Four since 2018 and ninth overall. Next up is a showdown with Arizona in Saturday’s national semifinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always wanted to play against them, that team,\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cThey’re a really, really good team, so it’s going to be a super fun matchup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under second-year coach Dusty May \u2014 who took Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2023 \u2014 the Wolverines became the first school to win at least four games in an NCAA tourney by double digits while scoring at least 90 points in each.<\/p>\n
Lendeborg, who was named the region\u2019s Most Outstanding Player, was 10 for 19 from the field. He became the first Michigan player to score at least 23 points in three consecutive NCAA Tournament games since Juwan Howard did it in four straight in 1994.<\/p>\n
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Ja\u2019Kobi Gillespie scored 21 points on 8-of-22 shooting for Tennessee (25-12), which lost in the Elite Eight for the third straight year under Rick Barnes. The 71-year-old coach reached his only Final Four in 2003 with Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly know what it takes to get here,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cNow we\u2019ve got to figure out getting through to the next level, and it\u2019s on this day, you\u2019ve got to really be at your best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Felix Okpara finished with 10 points and seven rebounds for the Volunteers, who shot just 32% (24 of 76) from the field. Each team had 42 rebounds \u2014 a major problem for a Tennessee team that usually enjoys an advantage on the glass.<\/p>\n
Michigan grabbed control with a 21-0 run in the first half, going from a 16-14 deficit with 11:22 left to a 35-16 lead with 6:10 remaining.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat’s when our defense started clicking,\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cWe started running out on the break and started doing what we do best, and once that happened, man, I think the game was pretty much called right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once again, Lendeborg was the conductor of an offensive show for the Wolverines. The 6-foot-9 forward switched hands on a slick reverse layup, then made a no-look pass to Roddy Gayle Jr. for a 3-pointer on a fast break. Then he set up a 3 by Cadeau with 7:52 to go.<\/p>\n
After Tennessee made a push to get back in the game, Lendeborg scored on a fast break and found Trey McKenney for a 3 at the end of a 7-0 run that made it 48-26 at halftime.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had open looks,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cWe had some open shots that didn\u2019t go down, and that\u2019s where they were able to get out and capitalize.\u201d<\/p>\n
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It was more of the same in the second half. Mara, a 7-foot-3 center, stepped outside for one of the Wolverines\u2019 10 3-pointers. The Michigan portion of the United Center crowd cheered wildly when seldom-used reserves Charlie May \u2014 the coach’s son \u2014 and Oscar Goodman entered for the final few minutes.<\/p>\n
Goodman scored with 2:32 left and May made a 3 with 1:02 remaining for Michigan\u2019s final basket.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust playing together and understanding that we all need each other to be successful,\u201d said Nimari Burnett, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. \u201cSo making that extra pass, that unselfish play that leads from a good shot to a great shot, I feel like we had a lot of that, especially in the first half that built that lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like where we are right now at the end of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
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AP March Madness bracket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage<\/a>: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/march-madness<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg celebrates after defeating Tennessee in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[14856,14849,87651,3116,23681,202,196,42838,42094,85939,87447,87652,61262,21398,82,84,83,3135,14851],"class_list":["post-226222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-elliot-cadeau","tag-felix-okpara","tag-march-madness-tennessee-michigan-score","tag-michigan","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-32556-ap-online-college-game-stories","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-product-40784-ap-illinois-sports-only","tag-product-40792-ap-michigan-sports-only","tag-product-40814-ap-tennessee-sports-only","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories","tag-rick-barnes","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-tennessee","tag-yaxel-lendeborg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}