Michigan basketball burrows its way to share of Big Ten title
· Yahoo Sports
Hail to the … champions.
There's still so much more to accomplish, but on Tuesday, Feb. 24, Michigan basketball woke up after a sleepy first half at Crisler Center to down Minnesota, 77-67. The win gives Michigan its first share of the Big Ten regular-season title since the 2020-21 season. The Wolverines need just one more win in their final three games to take the title outright for the 10th time in program history.
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Elliot Cadeau led the Wolverines with 15 points and added four rebounds and five assists, while L.J. Cason added 14 points and true freshman Trey McKenney had 12 points, thanks to four 3-pointers on eight tries.
Big Ten championship race
With the win, the Wolverines (26-2, 16-1 Big Ten) locked up at least a share of the regular-season title for the 16th time overall. U-M also locked up a triple-bye in next month’s Big Ten Tournament, meaning they’ll just need to win three games in three days – starting on Friday, March 13 at United Center in Chicago – to claim the tournament’s auto-bid to March Madness.
Next up for Michigan basketball
Of course, before they get to the Windy City, the Wolverines would like to take the outright Big Ten regular-season title, which they can do with a road win over No. 11 Illinois (22-6, 13-4) on Friday (8 p.m., Fox). Popping the champagne (or your non-alcoholic celebrational drink of choice) in Champaign might be easier said than done, as the Wolverines haven’t topped the Illini at State Farm Center since January 2019. That’s a run of four straight losses there, including a 29-point loss in February 2024 and a four-point loss in double OT in March 2023.
A sluggish first half
It wasn’t the worst first half this season for the Wolverines – although the 32 points was a season low for the first half – but it was far from acceptable, as U-M shot just 41.9% from the floor, a mark dragged down by a woeful 33% (5-for-15) mark beyond the arc.
All those misses left plenty of rebound opportunities, and U-M capitalized with 21 boards (to Minnesota’s 11) and eight second-chance points (to none for Minnesota). But the Golden Gophers showed a surprising deftness in the paint, outscoring the Wolverines in their usual den, 16-14.
Notable in that lack of dominance in the paint was the general lack of production from U-M’s super-sized frontcourt: Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara combined for just four points and nine rebounds, with Johnson pulling down five of those boards, and Lendeborg going scoreless with just one shot attempt.
Cadeau and Roddy Gayle Jr. turned it up, though, with seven points apiece, and Trey McKenney hit a pair of 3s (on four tries) for six first-half points.
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball gets going in 2nd half to bury Minnesota