Michigan beat Arizona 91-73 in the men’s Final Four on April 5, and Aday Mara led the way with 26 points as the Wolverines broke the game open early and never gave the Wildcats a chance to settle in.
Michigan advanced to the NCAA Tournament championship game against UConn on Monday night, chasing its second championship in program history and its first since 1989. Trey McKenney added 16 points off the bench, Elliot Cadeau finished with 13 points and 10 assists, and five Michigan players scored in double figures.
The first half told the story. Michigan’s defense was smothering from the start, Arizona was still looking for its first field goal early, and the Wildcats never found the rhythm they needed to turn the game into the kind of fight they had managed in earlier rounds. Arizona’s largest deficit of the NCAA Tournament came here, a sign of just how quickly Michigan took control.
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Mara, who is 7 feet 3 inches tall and spent last season at UCLA before this one, has been one of the quiet forces behind Michigan’s run under Dusty May. His size changed shots, his touch finished possessions, and his scoring gave Michigan a second gear when Arizona tried to close the gap. Mo Krivas knows the matchup from another level, too; the two have faced each other in various international events, and Krivas said the result was simple this time: his team won. He added that it was the same feeling both times, it sounds like.
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Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd was left sorting through a game that got away before it had a chance to become competitive. He pointed to the need to figure out what to run and, after the way Michigan’s defense hit early, to take a deep breath. Arizona had shown last weekend against Purdue that it could survive a rough first half and recover, but this one never developed that same escape route. Michigan’s pressure, its balance and Mara’s production left the Wildcats with no clean answer, and with UConn waiting Monday night, the Wolverines now have a shot to finish the job they started in April.
