CHICAGO — Nearly three minutes into the second half of No. 1 Michigan’s Sweet 16 win over No. 4 Alabama on Friday, Yaxel Lendeborg stole an inbounds pass under a Crimson Tide basket and spotted Nimari Burnett heading toward the opposite sideline.
Lendeborg fired a 65-foot pass from the low block that hit Burnett in stride at the opposite 3-point line, and the senior guard dunked it. Somewhere, Tom Brady smiled at the timing and the anticipation.
“Absolutely,” Lindborg said with a halogen smile when asked if he felt like a midfielder. “I didn’t play midfield, but I know that when we played outside, I played (midfield).”
The moment showcased a night in which Lendeborg did everything to help the Wolverines fend off a feisty Crimson Tide team, winning 90-77 thanks to a strong second half.
Lindeborg scored 23 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and provided seven assists. He hit four 3-pointers and showed off an arsenal of linebacker steps and ballet moves on the perimeter that belied his 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame.
“It’s just a Swiss Army knife,” Michigan assistant Mike Boynton said. “He can do it all.”
Michigan’s win puts a fourth Big Ten team in the Elite Eight this weekend, with the Wolverines joining Purdue, Illinois and Iowa. Michigan will play the winner of No. 2 Iowa State and No. 6 Tennessee.
It is the first time in Big Ten history that the league has had four teams in the Elite Eight. The Big Ten hasn’t won a national title in men’s basketball since 2000, which will loom as a big story in Indianapolis.
“I would say the best way to break this drought is to send four Big Ten teams to Indianapolis,” Michigan coach Dusty May said with a smile.
The Wolverines trailed by nine points at the start of the first half and by two at halftime. They needed Lendeborg’s all-around brilliance to overcome Alabama’s 14 3-pointers. May’s team took a punch in the first half and responded with a powerful flurry of haymakers that turned a halftime deficit into a 15-point lead in the first 11 minutes of the second half.
On a night when Michigan shot 13 of 27 from 3-point range and 50% from the field, Lendeborg revved its engine. He knocked down passes in the paint, shot 4 of 5 from 3-point range and handled the ball brilliantly to jump-start Michigan’s offense.
Burnett, an Alabama transfer, shared afterward that a Crimson Tide player yelled at one point, “They’re shooting 50% from 3, they can’t keep this up.”
He paused and smiled: “And we kept at it.”
Michigan is now 40 minutes away from the program’s first Final Four since 2018, when John Beilein’s team lost to Villanova in the national title game. This is the moment the Wolverines are headed toward.
“We are one step closer to our goal,” Lindeborg said. “We got a chance to cut another net (Sunday) and then another one (in Indianapolis).”
