By Charlie Commeret
The University of Michigan men’s basketball team won the NCAA National Championship 69-63, marking the second title in school history. This game was a slugfest from start to finish, as it was a change of scenery for the Wolverines who averaged 90-plus points per game throughout the tournament and won by an average of over 20 points in those games.
Early on, the Wolverines got good looks from the 3-point line that just didn’t fall, as they did hit a few in the second half. To adjust their offensive attack, they went to their bread and butter which is throwing the ball inside and scoring paint points. Yaxel Lendeborg got it going in the second half after a lackluster first half. Attacking mismatches in the post and taking advantage of them, helping get the Huskies in foul trouble. He clearly was not playing healthy, but he left it all on the court for his team. Aday Mara, the 7-foot-4 center, also had a couple big buckets in the post where he was able to get to the right-hand hook and score.
Transfer guard Elliott Cadeau, was also a big factor in this game as he was able to get into the paint and draw fouls and finish at the rim. Cadeau finished with 19 points along with two assists and three rebounds to lead Michigan to victory, as well as winning the Most Outstanding Player in the tournament.
The biggest factor was Michigan’s overall physicality on the defensive end of the floor where their ball pressure as well as active hands in passing lanes wore UConn down. The Huskies offense is primarily predicated on movement and running off ball sets like pindowns, ghost screens and flare screens to free up their shooters. Alex Karaban and Braylon Mullins had their hands full all night as Michigan did a great job of staying with them off the ball and running them off the 3-point line, and when they were able to get free they just couldn’t knock them down at a high enough clip as they combined shot 6-30 from beyond the arc.
It was not pretty but the Wolverines showed that even through a rough shooting performance and an injury to their best player they could find a way to win.
Michigan Head Coach Dusty May has been the talk of the media as he has turned around the Michigan Basketball program in just two seasons after hitting rock bottom going 8-24 in former head coach Juwan Howard’s final season before getting fired. Overall this is an exciting time for Michigan Basketball as the program is on the rise once again.
