Before running out onto the floor, Michigan‘s players gathered together and hyped each other up with positive shouts. Then, to break a huddle, someone yelled ‘B-T-A on three.’
B-T-A, for the uninformed, stands for ‘belt to a**.’ Across 40 minutes of game time in the nightcap for the Final Four on Saturday, that’s exactly what the Wolverines delivered on the Arizona Wildcats.
Every sign, every metric, every prediction, every estimation analyzed by experts, statisticians and sickos indicated this would be a close game that fans would talk about for years to come.
If they speak of it, the conversation will only be about a brutal, relentless, emphatic 91-73 whipping the Wolverines laid down on the Wildcats in Indianapolis to reach their first national championship game since 2018.
Michigan went into the half up 16 and never let up. Even after an injury to star man Yaxel Lendeborg, the Wolverines embarrassed and overwhelmed the Wildcats defensively in spite of the obvious talent Arizona possessed.
Now, Michigan sets its sights on the national championship game and a matchup against two-seed UConn.
Michigan thoroughly dominated Arizona to set up a national championship clash with UConn
The Wolverines dominated the Wildcats in nearly every facet of the game from start to finish
It was said at the beginning, but it cannot be overstated how close this game was supposed to be.
Arizona rolled into this game as the No. 2 team in the nation which had previously spent multiple weeks at No. 1.
They beat every opponent in March by at least 15 points. They possessed a trio of enormously talented freshmen in Brayden Burries, Koa Peat and Ivan Karchenkov who could all score and play defense.
Arizona, the No. 1 team in KenPom (4th in offense, 2nd in defense), only barely edged out KenPom’s No. 2 team, Michigan (5th in offense, 1st in defense). Both teams had size, both teams played physical defense, both teams had the ability to score.
It’s not that a Michigan victory was entirely out of the realm of possibility, it’s just that this win was so lopsided. The game was over within the first half of the first half when the Wolverines went up by 14.
An injury to Lendeborg, who hurt both his knee and his ankle on one play, almost made the game competitive. Arizona pulled together some dominant possessions and cut the deficit down to five.
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Did Michigan’s dominant win reveal flaws in Arizona’s strategy or true championship potential?
An injury to star forward Yaxel Lendeborg led to Arizona going back within striking distance
Elliot Cadeau shot poorly in the first half, but dished nine assists and played elite defense
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd barks out orders to his players during the loss to Michigan
None of it mattered. Michigan ended the half on an 18-7 run, leaving Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd in need of an answer to deliver a result.
It’s shocking how it came to this. Michigan guard Elliot Cadeau was described as having ‘the greatest 2-14 night ever’ thanks to his smothering defense and plenty of assists. By night’s end, he’d tally 13 points, five rebounds and ten assists.
Spanish center Aday Mara stands only an inch taller than Arizona’s Motiejus Krivas and yet he feasted offensively over his counterpart. The native of Zaragoza celebrated a night with 26 points and nine rebounds.
A change in mentality or result or luck never came. Arizona continued to score, but Michigan never stopped scoring. It seemed every shot they put up would fall out of the sky and through the net.
The second half wasn’t as lopsided as the first, but Arizona had no time to improve their luck
After a while, the buckets started to blend together. Occasionally, a vicious dunk would cause a groan to be let out by the Arizona faithful that traveled here from Tucson.
Fans filed to the exits early, sensing the impending final horn to spell an end to a season that will mark a return to the top of the sport’s lofty ladder – only to lose their grip and fall from the second-to-last rung.
It’s maybe the most thorough game Michigan has played all year – leaving Vegas and the analysts rushing to make them heavy favorites over Connecticut. After tonight’s result, it’s hard to blame them.
But Michigan coach Dusty May certainly doesn’t look past the Huskies. When asked why he put in Lendeborg while he was hampered and the game was ‘pretty well decided,’ the coach replied, ‘Well, apparently you guys missed the UConn-Duke game. The game was already decided that we were playing Duke tomorrow. They were up 19, correct, in the second half? And who won?’
