As Michigan basketball advances, Yaxel Lendeborg remains unstoppable
"We feel like we're pretty much unstoppable when [Yaxel Lendeborg] has one of his really good games," Michigan basketball guard Elliot Cadeau said.
CHICAGO − In the big picture, Yaxel Lendeborg is the best player on the Michigan basketball roster. That's not to say the Wolverines can't win when he's not starring. But when he does?
When he puts up 23 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, reaching benchmarks matched just two other times in the past 41 NCAA tournaments (by Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade in 2003). Well, it tends to paper over his teammates' occasional individual struggles, such as, say, Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara's combined 15 points ( on 7-for-18 shooting), 13 rebounds and four turnovers in top-seed Michigan's 90-77 victory over 4-seed Alabama for a spot in the Elite Eight.
CARLOS MONARREZ: Michigan basketball leaves no questions in Sweet 16 about title chances Of course, getting big games from Elliot Cadeau (17 points, seven assists and one turnover), Roddy Gayle Jr. (16 points, one short of his season high) and Trey McKenney (17 on just seven shots) helps, too. "Each game it's going to be someone else, someone different," Mara said.
"We realized that today, the big men, our job was screen for Yax, screen for Elliot and they're going to create offense. So we tried to do that as best we can. " But again, the Wolverines' Big Ten player of the year was the engine that drove the Wolverines' return to the Elite Eight for the ninth time in 42 seasons.
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