Yaxel Lendeborg describes struggle of playing injured in championship
Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg played through MCL and ankle injuries in the national championship, helping his team win.
Michigan basketball's opportunity to win a national championship became more dire in the Final Four, when star forward Yaxel Lendeborg was injured driving the lane midway through the first half against Arizona. He was diagnosed with a sprained MCL (knee) and ankle, but he quickly proclaimed that he would absolutely play in the final game of the year against UConn, no matter the pain. He was cleared to play and seemingly looked good during warmups.
However, once the game tipped off, Lendeborg struggled. In his halftime interview with CBS's Tracy Wolfson, he openly shared that he was having a hard time making it through -- exacerbated by having played all 20 minutes. Ultimately, there was no way Lendeborg wasn't going to play and give it his all.
And he did just that. But even so, he felt like he was more of a detriment at times. "Yeah, I knew I was gonna go as soon as I got back on the court, the first game," Lendeborg said.
"I knew there was no way I was gonna miss this game, no matter what was going on. I was very tentative this game. Yeah, I felt like I was pretty much holding our team down.