Photos by: Aaron J. Thornton
Was it a statement? One might say so as the Michigan Wolverines put the pedal to the floor and left the No. 6 seed Tennessee Volunteers in the dust in a lopsided 95-62 thrashing. Entering the Elite Eight game as 7.5-point favorites, the No. 1 seed Wolverines were expected to win, but not like this. Michigan overwhelmed Tennessee, turning an anticipated battle into a 33-point rout.
Tennessee scored the first points in the game on a three-point make by Bishop Boswell. The teams traded baskets for the first 10 minutes of the game; neither team could build a run to go up by more than three points. Then after a couple of questionable calls (or possibly missed calls) and the “overly physical” play from Tennessee, the Wolverines clearly had enough. They came together and turned their intensity of play up not just one notch, but a few notches and went on a 26-4 run over seven and a half minutes to take a commanding 41-20 lead in the game. The lead increased to 22 points going into the break, fueled by Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg, who poured in 15 first-half points.
“They were the number one offensive team in the county for a reason, they showed us in the first minutes and after the media timeout we all regrouped and thought about what we needed to do and the game started to shift”. Lendeborg’s words captured the turning point precisely and Michigan didn’t just respond, they imposed their identity with authority.
That surge in the final ten minutes of the first half proved to be too much. Any hope of a Tennessee comeback faded further after the break. Michigan maintained control, outscoring the Volunteers 47–36 in the second half and never allowing the game to drift back into doubt. Behind a complete performance of efficient offense, suffocating defense, and a physical presence that Tennessee struggled to match, Michigan cruised to their 35th victory of the season, a program best, advancing them to the NCAA Final Four.
Lendeborg paced the way leading all scorers in the game with 27 points. Morez Johnson Jr. and Trey McKenney both chipped in 12 points. Elliot Cadeau orchestrated the attack with a game high 10 assists. Michigan clamped down and their defense and size were a big factor. The Wolverines limited the Volunteers to just five made three-pointers, as the Volunteers connected on 19% of their attempts from behind the arc. For Tennessee, Ja’Kobie Gillespie led the Volunteers with 21 points in the loss.
Afterward, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes pointed to foul trouble and the disparity at the free throw line as key factors. “They obviously shot a lot more free throws than we did,” he said. That was true as Michigan shot 20 more shots from the free throw line in the game. It didn’t help that the Volunteers only made just over half of their free-throw attempts shooting 53% from the foul line for a total of nine points.
The Wolverines played in the Elite Eight game carrying momentum from a Sweet 16 victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide on Friday evening, where they used a dominant second half surge to beat the Tide. In that game, Michigan trailed by two points at halftime but came together in the locker room during the intermission to outscore the Crimson Tide 43-28 in the final half for a 90-77 win.
Michigan now heads to Indianapolis, making its ninth NCAA Final Four appearance. They will take on the No. 1 seed Arizona Wildcats on Saturday night with the winner moving forward to the National Championship game.
Final Score: Michigan 95 – Tennessee 62
