Michigan Postgame Recap: Michigan dunks Saint Louis to secure a spot in the Sweet 16

The Michigan Insider

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4.6 • 855 Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2026

⏱️ 25 minutes

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Summary

Michigan secured a 95-72 victory over Saint Louis in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16. Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg led the team with 25 points, while Aday Mara made a substantial impact by recording 16 points, five rebounds, five assists, and four of the Wolverines' nine blocks. Elliot Cadeau contributed 12 points, eight assists, and only two turnovers. Michigan's transition offense proved decisive, as evidenced by 20 team assists, and the defense was particularly effective against Billikens' standout Robbie Avila, who was limited to nine points on 3-for-13 shooting. Sam Webb, Josh Newkirk, and Alejandro Zungia (reporting live from Buffalo), emphasized Michigan's cohesiveness and athleticism, highlighting key momentum plays such as Lendeborg's transition dunk in the second half and the reverse alley-oop from Lendeborg to Mara in the first half. Michigan will face either Alabama or Texas Tech in the Sweet 16, with both potential opponents possibly missing key players due to injury or suspension.

Transcript

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0:00.0	And welcome to the Michigan Insider Postgame Recap. I'm Josh Newkirk alongside with Sam Webb and Alejandro Zaniga.
0:09.5	Alejandro disappeared on me, but I'll just go right to you, Sam. We'll get to Alejandro in a second.
0:17.2	You know, we talked about this last game in the post game. You wanted to see Michigan come out and play Michigan basketball and just dominate, use their size, keep the tempo.
0:29.1	And most importantly, the player of the year, Yassel Lindenberg, play like the player of the year.
0:34.0	And I think we had to start with him.
0:36.2	He played phenomenal today, Sam. I mean,
0:38.2	and we can all look to that dunk. And we were talking about that before we went on air that just
0:42.3	made everybody jump out of their shoes. I'm sure Alejandro had to stay tame there in Buffalo.
0:48.0	But that dunk was incredible. Michigan had a ton of great place. But Yax came on and
0:52.8	inserted himself as the alpha dog today,
0:55.3	25 points to lead the Wolverines to victory.
0:57.7	Yeah, there are times where the other team, when you got a team like Michigan's,
1:04.3	where the other team just, you want to get them to a point where they're like,
1:08.2	we can't do anything with that.
1:09.8	And there were several instances, especially on the defensive end, where they're like we can't do anything with that and there were several
1:11.0	instances especially on the defensive band where they were like it was just the no fly zone they had to
1:15.7	feel like there were 20 arms around them because it was just no fly zone in the paint that's why
1:21.4	you saw rabbi avila take 13 threes in this game was like there's just no there's no getting
1:26.5	anything inside consistently.
1:29.3	But I thought, Yax, to your point, and I'll throw to you, Alejandro, this is what we were talking
1:34.0	about. The kind of aggression, they got him going early. We got a few early buckets. They got it down
1:41.0	to him for an easy layup. But it got him in the flow.
	...

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