Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan basketball too much for Alabama

Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) defends Alabama guard Labaron Philon (0) during the second half of NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 round at United Center in Chicago on Friday, March 27, 2026. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Alabama was a heavy underdog in their regional semifinal matchup against Michigan, and like most of this tournament the chalk held as the Wolverines advanced by a score of 90-77. Things started out about as well as you could hope.

Aiden Sherrell opened up the scoring with a three, and a few minutes later hit another to put the Tide up 11-4 headed into the first media timeout. For whatever reason, Alabama looked like the fresher team in the opening minutes. As you’d expect, that kind of prosperity didn’t last for long against a team of this caliber.

Michigan promptly went on a 7-0 run to tie things up, setting up a back and forth affair into the second media timeout with Alabama leading 18-17. The story of the game to that point was Alabama’s aggressiveness on defense, having forced 4 turnovers including two steals in the first nine minutes. These two teams just kept coming at each other.

Play didn’t stop for the “under 8” timeout until five minutes were left in the half, and Alabama led 38-33. The pace of play was just as frenetic as Alabama loves it to be, and Michigan’s bigger wings looked lost trying to chase Alabama’s backcourt around the perimeter. Alabama was getting wide open threes basically any time they wanted, and fortunately they were falling.