Yaxel Lendeborg's 3-pointer lifts Michigan over Wisconsin in Big Ten semifinal

James Hawkins, The Detroit News on Mar 14, 2026

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CHICAGO — The Michigan Wolverines toppled one Big Ten team after another during their near-unbeaten march to the outright regular-season title.

Well, everyone but the Badgers.

Top-seeded Michigan avenged its lone conference loss in Saturday’s Big Ten Tournament semifinal, downing No. 5 seed Wisconsin, 68-65, on a last-second 3-pointer by Yaxel Lendeborg and completing its quest to best all 17 league foes.

Aday Mara had 16 points and eight rebounds, Elliot Cadeau scored 15, Lendeborg finished with 12 points and Trey McKenney had 10 points for Michigan (31-2), which squandered a 15-point second-half lead before Lendeborg’s heroics.

Michigan will face the winner between No. 6 seed UCLA and No. 7 seed Purdue in the championship game at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday.

Despite having as many turnovers as baskets (eight) in an offensively-challenged first half, playing a long stretch with Cadeau in foul trouble and trailing for nearly 16 minutes, Michigan entered halftime tied at 28.

After finishing the first half with a 10-2 run, the Wolverines rode that momentum out of the break. Mara and Nimari Burnett both scored on putbacks. Cadeau scored on a driving layup. A string of six unanswered points kick-started a 13-2 flurry.

Wisconsin, playing its third game in three days, missed its first six shots of the half. Cadeau added a shot in the paint and a 3-pointer to cap the run. Michigan pulled ahead, 42-31, with 14:20 to play.

After making seven 3-pointers in the first half, Wisconsin missed nine of their first attempts from deep and made just four shots total in the first 11 minutes out of the break. Another burst from Michigan, this time a 12-3 stretch, extended the margin. Aday Mara scored twice in the paint. Lendeborg scored two times at the rim. Michigan took a 54-39 lead with 9:50 to go.

But just when it looked like the Wolverines were seizing control, the Badgers stormed back and took the lead. Wisconsin erupted for a 23-4 flurry over a six-minute stretch, with Austin Rapp catching fire from deep and making six 3-pointers.

Rapp went on a personal 9-0 run with three consecutive 3-pointers to tie it at 56 with 5:31 remaining. After Michigan called a timeout and Mara offered a brief reprieve with a dunk, Rapp countered with two more deep balls to give Wisconsin a 62-58 lead with 3:50 remaining.

Michigan didn’t crumble and countered with a 7-0 spurt. Mara hit a jumper and then scored at the rim to tie it at 62 with 1:41 to go. After getting a stop, Lendeborg corralled an offensive board and Cadeau got a friendly bounce on a second-chance 3-pointer to give the Wolverines a 65-62 edge with 45 seconds to go.

That set the stage for a wild finish. After Nick Boyd hit a 3-pointer to knot it at 65, Michigan had a chance to win it on the final possession and Lendeborg delivered with a deep ball with 0.4 seconds left.

Rapp scored 18, Boyd added 14, John Blackwell and Aleksas Bieliauskas 10 for Wisconsin (24-10), which was coming off a quarterfinal win over Illinois on Friday that went to overtime and were down two players in Jack Janicki and Nolan Winter.

The Badgers shot 37.7% from the field and finished 16 for 38 from deep. Wisconsin pulled off the upset on Jan. 10 in Ann Arbor, Mich., making 15 3-pointers to hand Michigan its first loss and only setback, 91-88, at home.

The game got off to a quick-paced start, with the teams going up and down with not much offense materializing. The Wolverines got off to a 1 for 7 start and had three turnovers on steals by Wisconsin, including a pair by Boyd, in the opening five minutes. The Badgers missed nine of their first 10 shots, with Morez Johnson Jr. and Mara each blocking a shot.

After the teams combined for nine points on 3-for-19 shooting in the first six-plus minutes, the lid started to come off the basket. Cadeau buried a second-chance 3-pointer. Wisconsin knocked down a string of 3-pointers, with Boyd, Blackwell and Bieliauskas draining a deep ball on consecutive possessions to grab a 12-9 lead with 12:05 left in the first half.

That started a stretch where Wisconsin made six of seven shots and generated good looks. Bieliauskas was left open at the top of the key and made another 3-pointer. Boyd gave the Badgers their first 2-point basket when he stripped Trey McKenney near midcourt and scored on a fast-break layup for an 18-11 lead.

The Wolverines, meanwhile, struggled to find much of an offensive flow and had rushed possessions, especially after Cadeau went to the bench with his second foul at the 11:38 mark. Will Tschetter canned a 3-pointer and Roddy Gayle Jr. came away with a steal, drew a foul on a fast break and made two free throws to cut it to 18-16.

After Tschetter’s bucket, Michigan missed eight consecutive shots and Wisconsin extended its lead. Bieliauskas made his third deep ball. A defensive breakdown left Blackwell all alone for Wisconsin’s seventh 3-pointer of the half to make it 26-18 at the 4:26 mark.

Despite all that, Michigan closed the half on a 10-2 run to pull even. McKenney snapped a six-minute field-goal drought with a 3-pointer. The defense tightened up and held Wisconsin to one basket down the stretch. Lendeborg got on the board with a corner 3 to cap the spurt and knot it at 28 at the break.

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