The stakes couldn’t be higher. At least not for the players.
With a million dollars in NIL on the line alongside a host of other season implications — taking the crown as title favorites, continuing their perfect season, a microdose of being champions — the No. 7 Michigan men’s basketball team came to secure its spot atop college basketball.
Coming into the Players Era Championship title game, the Wolverines (7-0) were nearly perfect in their first two games. And against their toughest test yet, No. 12 Gonzaga (7-1), the Wolverines continued that perfection from the get-go securing a 101-61 win.
In its first four possessions, Michigan couldn’t miss. Winning the tip off, junior guard Elliot found graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg right behind the arc for his first shot of the night from deep. The duo of junior center Aday Mara and sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. got their space in the paint, securing a floater and an and-1, respectively. Carrying his momentum, Lendeborg hit another catch-and-shoot 3-pointer to round out the first two minutes of the game.
Conversely, the Zags couldn’t get any offense early. Suffocated by the frontcourt of Johnson, Lendeborg and Mara, Gonzaga didn’t score within the paint until it dropped in a jumper nearly five minutes into the contest.
Feeding off Lendebong’s early 3s as the game progressed, the Wolverines began to light up the Zags from beyond the arc. With eight 3-pointers in the first half, Michigan got everyone involved. A NBA-range 3-pointer from Cadeau, deep-corner shots from graduate forward Will Tschetter, pull-up shots from beyond the arc from freshman guard Trey McKenny and more fastbreak 3-pointers from graduate guard Nimari Burnett kept the Wolverines’ healthy cushion alive going into halftime.
Taking just about as many threes, Gonzaga only sunk 2-of-12. Highlighted by a possession deep into the first half when Michigan deliberately left Zag sharpshooting big Graham Ike open at the top of the arc, to which he missed the shot.
Starting the second half up 53-29, the Wolverines didn’t quite start with the same efficiency. Trading fouls back and forth neither Gonzaga nor Michigan found a rhythm early.
The Wolverines wouldn’t be denied, though, with the same frontcourt of Mara, Johnson and Lendeborg setting the tone in the paint. Taking the reins, Johnson hammered in a couple dunks while sprinkling in a few layups. Mara got to the cup as well, shimmying in for a few layups and some accompanying free throws. Lendeborg rounded out his highlight reel with a and-1 dunk and then a backwards reverse dunk on an open rim.
This trio continued to be nuisances near the basket, picking up four blocks and seven rebounds as the Zags continued to flounder offensively. Even when they opted for threes, Gonzaga couldn’t buy a shot, hitting just 1-of-8 before Michigan called the game by subbing in its developing players.
Beating their opponents by an average margin of 36 points, there was almost nothing that went wrong for the Wolverines. Twos, threes, rebounds, frontcourt, backcourt, it — being pure domination — was all there. And with that domination came Michigan’s million dollars and possibly a spot looking down at the rest of college basketball.
