Michigan closed out its historic season Monday night by beating UConn 69-63 in Indianapolis, giving the Wolverines their second national championship in program history and their first since 1989. It also ended one of the sport’s most imposing March runs by toppling a UConn team that had not lost in the Sweet 16 or later since the 2009 Final Four.
The win capped a season in which Michigan spent months looking like the biggest, deepest and most physically overwhelming team in the country, then proved it one last time on the sport’s biggest stage. Elliot Cadeau scored 19 points and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, a fitting finish for a player who changed teams, changed his trajectory and ended the season holding the biggest prize in college basketball.
Dusty May’s team did not win this one with the same offensive avalanche it used earlier in the tournament, when Michigan became the first team ever to score at least 90 points in five straight NCAA tournament games. This time, the Wolverines won by leaning on the identity that carried them all season: length, size, rim protection and a willingness to keep pounding away even when shots were not falling.
“When you bring a group this talented together, and they decide from the beginning that they’re going to do it this way and they never waver and they never change, that’s probably the most uncommon thing in athletics now,” May said. “For these guys to cut down the nets after all they’ve sacrificed is pretty special.”
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For much of the first half, UConn looked capable of dragging Michigan into the kind of game it wanted. The Huskies controlled tempo, limited transition chances and benefited from Michigan’s brutal start from 3-point range, as the Wolverines missed their first 10 attempts from deep. UConn also got Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg at a vulnerable moment. Still recovering from the left MCL sprain and ankle injury he suffered against Arizona, Lendeborg labored through the first half and admitted at halftime, “I feel awful, I feel super weak right now. I can’t make anything … I played really soft in that first half.”
But the second half looked much more like the version of Michigan that had run roughshod through most of the bracket. The Wolverines wore UConn down with repeated trips to the paint and a steady stream to the free throw line, combining for 61 points in those two areas compared with 34 for the Huskies. Michigan also used its size to erase chances at the rim, blocking four shots after halftime and turning the lane into the kind of place UConn wanted no part of by the closing minutes.
Dan Hurley did not dispute what happened. “They’re legit,” Hurley said. “They definitely deserved to win the national championship. They’re clearly the best team in the country this year. They’re just so hard to score against at the rim.”
UConn’s offensive problems only deepened as the game wore on. The Huskies missed 13 straight 3-point attempts during one stretch and shot just 5-for-21 on first-shot offense in the second half entering the final four minutes. Michigan’s size around the basket kept changing shots, and the foul trouble that has dogged UConn all season resurfaced at the worst time. Solo Ball picked up his fourth foul early in the second half, and Silas Demary Jr. fouled out.
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Cadeau delivered the offensive spark Michigan needed when things got tight. After a rocky two-year run at North Carolina, he attacked off the bounce, created space against the UConn defense and made several of the biggest plays of the second half, including a key three-point play and a 3-pointer that pushed Michigan’s lead to 11. “I’m just so proud of myself, where I came from,” Cadeau said. “Last year, I was really down on myself, a lot of people doubted me, and I’m just so proud of myself for me to be able to say I was the Most Outstanding Player and win a national championship at the same time.”
Lendeborg, despite looking limited early, recovered to score nine second-half points and help Michigan reassert control. Morez Johnson Jr. added 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Aday Mara’s raw numbers did not match his semifinal explosion against Arizona, but his defensive work was central to the win as he helped hold Tarris Reed Jr. to his worst outing of the postseason.
The title felt like the logical ending to a season Michigan had been forecasting since November. Back before the Wolverines faced Gonzaga in the Players Era Championship title game, Cadeau told teammates, “We’re the best team ever assembled,” and Michigan backed it up by beating Gonzaga by 40. From there, the Wolverines spent the season looking every bit like a team built to break brackets and bully almost everyone in its path.
Monday night was not the flashiest version of Michigan. It did not need to be. It was the toughest, most stubborn and most complete version, and that was enough to put UConn away and bring another championship banner back to Ann Arbor. For Dusty May, it is a national title in just his second season at Michigan. For the Wolverines, it is the finish they spent all year chasing.
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