Yaxel Lendeborg carried Michigan into Saturday's Final Four matchup with Arizona, scoring 27 points in the Wolverines' last NCAA Tournament game before the April 4 showdown.
The Michigan forward had already piled up 27, 23 and 25 points in the team's three straight tournament rounds leading into that game, a run that made him the clearest driver of the offense as the Wolverines faced one of the tournament's fastest teams.
Lendeborg's season numbers explained why Michigan kept leaning on him. He averaged 15.2 points per game on 52/38/82 shooting splits and was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, a level of production that gave the Wolverines a dependable scoring base when games tightened in March. Michigan was also expected to clear its team total for a fifth straight game, with Lendeborg's scoring and playmaking sitting at the center of that expectation.
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That surge did not come from one hot night. Lendeborg scored 20 or more points against Duke, Purdue, Gonzaga and Michigan State twice, and he recorded four or more assists in three of his last four contests. He had 27 points against Tennessee, then followed that with another big night, then another, as Michigan kept surviving and advancing.
The pace on the other side mattered. Arizona plays at a blistering tempo, and its interior defense was one of the factors that could influence how much room Lendeborg had to work with on Saturday. Michigan's blowout wins earlier in the tournament also slightly suppressed his scoring average because he played fewer minutes and took fewer shots, but that did little to change the way the Wolverines used him when the games got serious.
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That is the story behind the attention now attached to yaxel lendeborg age and his rise: Michigan does not reach the Final Four without his points, his passing, and his ability to carry a load that keeps growing the deeper the bracket gets.
