INDIANAPOLIS — The road ends at Lucas Oil Stadium, where UConn and Michigan beat Illinois and Arizona to advance to the national championship on Monday.
ESPN’s college basketball crew was on site to break down how to win both Final Four games on Saturday — and preview each winner’s keys to the title game.
Relive the last four
How Michigan won: Adai Mara and Maurice Johnson Jr. immediately set the tone. Mara put on a talented play in the first half while Johnson beat Arizona down the floor and finish in transition or crash the offensive glass. Mara finished with a game-high 26 points on 11-for-16 shooting from the field to go along with 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. The lead swelled to as many as 30 points midway through the second half and Arizona never got closer than 17 points the rest of the way.
In a matchup between two of the biggest teams in the country and two of the elite frontcourt teams in the sport, the battle of the paint was always likely to be the deciding factor. But after beating nearly every opponent since the start of the season, Arizona State looked mired in defeat. Michigan was able to match or beat the Wildcats inside and separate them with a combination of speed and shooting not often seen from teams of this type of size.
Now the Wolverines have a chance to win the program’s first national championship since 1989, but there will be concern about the availability of All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg, who rolled his ankle in the first half after getting fouled on a drive to the rim. He was in obvious pain after the game and went straight to the locker room after making two free throws. Lindeborg got back into the game in the second half, playing nine minutes and making a pair of 3-pointers, but moving very cautiously. – Jeff Borzello
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Addai Mara Muscles in Michigan and -1
Aday Mara backs away from his defender due to a powerful pass as well as a foul.
The first factor that helped Michigan achieve the national title: The Wolverines can change gears quickly and reach a level that few teams can match. Their Elite Eight win over Tennessee was arguably the most complete game any team has ever seen in the NCAA Tournament. They outscored the Volunteers 48-26 in the first half and held Tennessee to just 85 points per 100 possessions. With 10:52 left to play in the first half, the Vols held a 16-15 lead over Michigan. The Wolverines then launched a 33-10 run to end the half. Tennessee coach Rick Barnes had his head in his hands. What can anyone do when Michigan plays like this? Arizona didn’t have an answer to that question either. The Wolverines led by 16 points in the first half against them — and that was with leading scorer Lendeborg missing most of the first half with a sprained MCL and ankle injury.
The Wolverines are a great team, they have stars, they play great defense — and when it’s time to dig in and battle, there’s no better team. That’s why Michigan made it to the final game of the year. — Myron Medcalf
How Michigan could win the championship: The Wolverines can win by doing the same things they did to get to this point: using their size to dominate the interior, playing great defense and applying relentless pressure.
On Saturday, Michigan led 26-10 in the first 10 minutes of the game. Arizona was surprised with the speed and efficiency with which a team of this size used to start the game. The Huskies will have a talented big man on the floor with Tarris Reed Jr., but he can’t do everything. The combination of a Michigan team that poses a threat from the three-point line and is stacked with resilient big men who can all run the floor, defend at all levels and punish opponents in the paint is their ticket to the program’s second national championship.
All of this could change if Lindeborg is sidelined or less than 100% sidelined. But Michigan kept hammering Arizona in the first and second halves, even without Lindeborg. The Wolverines can do that against UConn, too. –Medcalf
How Yukon won: It was Braylon Mullins who sent UConn to the Final Four, and it was Braylon Mullins who hit the dagger 3 to ice the game for the Huskies on Saturday. The Indiana native finished with 15 points, including a 3-pointer with 52 seconds left, which pushed UConn’s lead from four points to seven points and salvaged Illinois’ comeback attempt.
The Huskies led by as many as 14 points in the second half, and Illinois failed to get over the hump and give themselves a chance to take the lead or tie the game. The Illini struggled to finish around the rim and were surprisingly outscored from 3-point range. UConn made 12 shots from behind the arc, the most in a game in program history, while Illinois shot 6-for-26 from 3.
UConn advances to its third national championship game in four years. — Borzello
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Braylon Mullins’ dagger 3 sends UConn to their third title in 4 years
Braylon Mullins’ dagger 3 sends UConn to its third title in four years.
The number one factor that helped UConn reach the national title game: 3-point shooting.
The three-point battle was always going to be the key in Saturday’s Final Four game against Illinois, but no one expected UConn to outscore Illinois the way it did. Coming into the game, the Fighting Illini ranked among the top 15 teams nationally in 3s made per game and 3-point attempt rate, but they shot just 6-for-26 from behind the arc on Saturday — while the Huskies, who have made triple-doubles in a game just once since Feb. 18, went 12-for-33 from 3. The 12 3s were the Huskies’ most 3-pointers in a Final Four game. in the program’s history, according to ESPN research.
UConn’s shot-making trio of Braylon Mullins, Alex Karaban and Solo Ball has been spotty for much of the season, but the trio has emerged in a big way at the right time. Caraban went just 1-for-8 from the field, but Mullens was impressive, making four 3-pointers, including a dagger 3 in the final minutes. Paul hit three 3-pointers and scored eight points in a five-minute span early in the second half that extended UConn’s lead. Combine the shotmaking with Tarris Reed Jr.’s efficiency in the first half, and the Huskies were able to keep Illinois at arm’s length when it mattered. — Borzello
How UConn can win the championship: It’s hard to imagine UConn putting up enough points to win the national title without the contributions of Alex Karaban, Braylon Mullins and Taris Reed Jr. As a team, UConn will also have to work on keeping Michigan’s big men off the rim as much as possible. But the most important key for UConn is slowing the game down. The Huskies played at one of the slowest tempos in the country (319th-ranked), per KenPom. By contrast, Michigan played one of the fastest teams (22nd). But two of the Wolverines’ three losses this season (Duke and Purdue) were played on 63 or fewer possessions — or nearly eight fewer than Michigan’s average. The Wolverines want to send their big bodies to the floor and play fast. That’s what happened against Arizona, and the Wildcats had no answer.
The Huskies will have to control the tempo and make it a methodical game, with the Wolverines having to play more half-court basketball than fast-paced basketball, especially if star Lendeborg isn’t healthy. –Medcalf
