04/06/26 10:42:00
Printable Page
04/06 22:41 CDT Michigan muscles its way to program's 2nd national title,
beating stubborn UConn 69-63
Michigan muscles its way to program's 2nd national title, beating stubborn
UConn 69-63
By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) --- High-scoring Michigan had to get down and dirty to dig
out the national title Monday, making only two 3-pointers all night but still
muscling its way to a 69-63 victory over stingy, stubborn UConn.
Elliot Cadeau led the Wolverines with 19 points, including the team's first 3,
which came 7:04 into the second half. The second, from freshman Trey McKenney,
came with 1:50 left and felt like a dagger, giving the coach Dusty May's team
full of transfers a nine-point lead.
To no one's surprise, UConn fought to the finish. Solo Ball banked in a 3 to
cut it to four with 37 seconds left --- and after two missed free throws,
UConn's Alex Karaban (17 points) barely grazed the rim on a 3 that would've cut
the deficit to one with 17 seconds left.
Michigan also got outrebounded 22-12 on the offensive glass by a UConn team
that would not go away. Not until McKenney sank two free throws to bring
Michigan's shooting from the line to 25 for 28 for the night could the
Wolverines (37-3) kick off the celebration for the program's second title ---
the other coming in 1989.
But this game had a 1950s feel to it.
"If you'd told me we would shoot it this poorly and (be) dominated on the glass
and still find a way to win, I don't know if I would have believed you," May
said. "This team just found a way all season."
Michigan had to fight for everything. The Wolverines missed their first 11
shots from 3, finished 2 for 15 from there and won despite the struggles of
their best player, Yaxel Lendeborg. Ailing with a hurt knee and foot that kept
him from elevating, the graduate transfer from UAB finished with 13 points on
4-of-13 shooting.
Truth be told, it wasn't anyone's prettiest night.
UConn's hopes at becoming the first team since John Wooden's UCLA dynasty to
win three titles in four seasons came up short, done in by massive foul trouble
and its own terrible shooting.
Coach Dan Hurley's team shot 30.9% from the floor and missed its first 11 shots
from 3 in the second half.
Braylon Mullins, the hero of the Duke win that put UConn in the Final Four,
finished 4 of 17, though he made a pair of late 3s that kept the game in reach.
UConn (35-5) covered the 6 1/2-point spread, and Hurley kept his players out on
the court to watch the podium get set up for the presentation of a trophy
heading not to Storrs, but Ann Arbor.
About the only consolation: The Huskies clogged things up, slowed things down
and made Michigan beat them at their game.
The Wolverines came in as the first team to crack 90 points in five straight
high-flying tournament blowouts. They didn't hit 70 in this one but, in almost
every way, it was the prettiest of them all --- the one that gives them what
even Michigan's most famous teams, the Fab Five, couldn't manage --- namely, a
natty.
Style points aside, this was a championship built from outside --- the best
team money could buy.
All five Wolverines starters played college ball elsewhere, and all but Nimari
Burnett came to Ann Arbor this season. That's the product of the transfer
portal that May has shown no reluctance to use. His ability to form a makeshift
group into a winner is still the value of a coach and a culture.
"They might be still calling us mercenaries but we're the hardest-working
team," Lendenborg said. "We're the best in college basketball and we'll be one
of the greatest ever."
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and
coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
|
