Yaxel Lendeborg lifts Michigan basketball over Michigan State
Hook, jab. Right-hand, left. Punch, counter punch.
Back and forth the two rivals went, until Yaxel Lendeborg landed the knockout.
The projected NBA first-rounder drilled his career-best fifth 3-pointer right in front of the Michigan basketball bench to go up six with 3:31 to play. After Jeremy Fears Jr. hit a jumper to get within four, Lendeborg found Morez Johnson Jr. for a slam and then Johnson hit a free throw to make it a three-possession game with 2:21.
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Michigan State never got closer than that again.
No. 3 Michigan (30-2, 19-1 Big Ten) ended with a 17-10 run and defeated No. 8 Michigan State basketball (24-6, 15-5) 90-80 on Sunday, March 8, at Crisler Center cap the greatest regular season in program history and earn its first regular-season sweep of the rivalry since 2013-14.
If this game was the deciding factor in Lendeborg and Fears' competition for Big Ten Player of the Year among undecided voters, Lendeborg can start preparing his acceptance speech. Sunday brought perhaps his best game since late January. Lendeborg had a team-high 27 points and left triumphant, popping out his jersey and screaming to the fans as he was subbed out in the final minute.
Fears was excellent as well, scoring 22 points and dishing out nine assists, but Lendeborg's star was just one lumen brighter.
He hit a fadeaway over Jaxon Kohler. He drilled all six of his free throws. He broke down the defense as a ball-handler, including a critical skip pass to Nimari Burnett for a 3 to take the lead with 15 seconds left before halftime.
He picked up Fears on defense at times and showed his versatility: When Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara were both in foul trouble late in the first half, he moved to the five and promptly grabbed a rebound, then threw a full-court pass to Burnett for a transition layup.
But his highlight came on a baseline drive and reverse slam midway through the second half.
Oh, MSU had some big time performances from its other stars: Jaxon Kohler scored 23 and grabbed eight rebounds while Carson Cooper had 19 and six, But it wasn’t enough.
With a dish to Carson Cooper for a dunk with 4:04 left in the first half, Jeremy Fears Jr. passed Mateen Cleaves (1998-99) for second on MSU's single-season assist list with his 275th of the season. Cassius Winston (2018-19) holds the Spartans' single-season record at 291.
Johnson put up 18 points and seven boards for the Wolverines and Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 15 — his first time in double figures in more than two months — while Burnett scored 10.
Freshman Trey McKenney, heavily recruited by MSU, even scored 12 off the bench, including eight in a row in the second half, contributing greatly to the Wolverines' 24-6 edge in bench scoring.
Next up for Michigan State
The Spartans came in with a triple-bye locked up; the only question was whether they’d be the 2-seed at the Big Ten Tournament next week in Chicago (with a win or a Nebraska loss to Iowa) or the 3-seed (with a loss and a Nebraska win). It took an OT period after Nebraska blew a late six-point lead, but the Cornhuskers topped Iowa to lock up the 2-seed.
That leaves MSU as the 3-seed; the Spartans' game will start approximately 25 minutes after the end of the 2-seed game (around 9 p.m., Big Ten Network); MSU's potential opponents are 6-seed UCLA, 11-seed Minnesota or 14-seed Rutgers.
Next up for Michigan basketball
The Wolverines came into Sunday knowing their Big Ten Tournament destiny: a triple-bye through to the quarterfinals next week. The tourney starts Tuesday at United Center in Chicago, but U-M won’t take the court till noon on Friday (BTN) against a foe to be determined. Their potential opponents: 8-seed Ohio State, 9-seed Iowa, 16-seed Oregon or 17-seed Maryland.
Back and forth
Early on, it was an old-fashioned slugfest in Ann Arbor, with MSU going up 5-0 before an 14-2 Michigan run. But MSU kept chipping away.
Kohler scored five straight, a pair of Kur Teng 3s were sandwiched about another Kohler basket to tie the game at 27. Johnson and Lendeborg drilled back-to-back 3s to lead by six, but the Spartans ripped off a 12-2 run in 2:15, which included a Cooper slam, and 3s by Fears and Kohler.
Michigan answered with a 5-0 spurt to close the first half, with Lendeborg dishing it up for Burnett with 15 seconds left before the break.
Emotions spill over
As could be expected, emotions were heightened in this one and there was plenty of chaos.
It began with Fears, who has been under the microscope since committing some "non-basketball plays" in the first meeting between these two rivals. On Sunday, it happened again, as he backkicked between Elliot Cadeau’s legs and made contact.
The original contact from Cadeau drew a whistle, but after a videoboard replay, refs went to the review and Fears was tagged for a technical, drawing chants of “[Expletive] you, Fears!" for much of the rest of the afternoon.
He wasn’t the only one to take things too far. Soon after, Aday Mara picked up his second foul when he was called for a tech for shoving Cooper in the back mid-rebound attempt after Gayle hit a layup.
Then, after McKenney stole a Fears pass and finished a coast-to-coast layup, he knocked the ball out of Kohler’s hands on the inbounds – another technical foul.
In the second half, Mara was involved again, called for a flagrant-1 foul after Fears stripped him and Mara attempted to foul him from behind to avoid a fastbreak layup. But Mara made contact near Fears' shoulder, a no-no in the rulebook. Late in the contest, Cooper was tacked for an intentional foul away from the ball.
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Yaxel Lendeborg lifts Michigan basketball over Michigan State
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