Michigan
Yaxel Lendeborg’s biggest shot shows why Michigan basketball needs him
How Michigan basketball survived Big Ten Tournament test vs OSU
Free Press’ Tony Garcia and Carlos Monarrez discuss Michigan basketball’s tough game vs. Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
CHICAGO – Where was Yaxel Lendeborg?
The Big Ten player of the year was nearly invisible on the scoring sheet in Michigan basketball’s quarterfinal opener against Ohio State, and then again in the first half of a tight semifinal against Wisconsin at United Center on Saturday, March 14.
Then Lendeborg emerged. The true Lendeborg who has had so many big moments this season had one more, perhaps his biggest, when he appeared at the elbow with the clock ticking down.
Lendeborg took Elliot Cadeau’s pass and calmly launched a 3-pointer that swished in for the winning score with 0.4 seconds left. The Wolverines won, 68-65, improved to 31-2, and advanced to Sunday’s final against the winner of the Purdue-UCLA semifinal.
A day earlier, Cadeau said the Wolverines were the best team in the country even when Lendeborg wasn’t scoring. But on this day, it was clear U-M needed its best player in a showdown with the hot-shooting Badgers, who made 16 3-pointers (besting the 15 3s they made when they beat Michigan in Ann Arbor in January).
Austin Rapp led Wisconsin with 18 points and took over the game late, making five consecutive 3-pointers to pull Wisconsin ahead, 62-58, with 3:50 left. The Australian almost single-handedly erased the 54-39 lead Michigan built by coming out hot after from a 28-28 tie at halftime.
Wisconsin should have come in tired – and probably too tired to make so many 3s – after going to overtime against Illinois in Friday’s quarterfinal.
But feisty point guard Nick Boyd refused to even entertain the idea of fatigue or the need for rest.
“Ain’t no rest, you know what I’m saying? No rest,” he said Friday. “You’ve got to keep going. You get to play –Michigan, right? No. 3 or No. 2 team in the country. By the time you get out there and the lights is bright, ain’t nothing to think about.
“You talk about rest? We’ll play X amount of games and you’ve got to come out fighting. If you’re not excited and ready to go for a game like tomorrow, don’t even lace ’em up.”
Well, the Badgers laced ’em up, all right. And their footwear looked more like jackboots than sneakers as they started putting their foot on the Wolverines’ throats early, burying 3 after 3.
Even though the first half felt a lot more like a brick show to start off, Wisconsin established its perimeter offense early and started to distance itself from Michigan midway through the first stanza.
The Badgers were again spectacular on 3-pointers, hitting seven of 17 attempts – 41.2% – compared to the Wolverines’ 26.7%: four makes on 15 attempts.
Aleksas Bieliauskas led the Badgers with nine points in the first half, all courtesy of his 3-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc. He was also effective in Wisconsin’s January win, when he was 5-for-10 on 3s.
After Cadeau got into foul trouble – his second came just 8½ minutes in – and had to sit, the Wolverines looked less organized and the Badgers took advantage, pushing their lead to 18-11 with 9:43 left, then to eight, 26-18 with 4:26 left.
It was almost a miracle the Wolverines managed to enter halftime tied, 28-28. But they clawed back by going on a 10-2 run in the final 3:52 and playing tighter defense, led by Morez Johnson Jr.’s steal and block down the stretch, which was punctuated by Lendeborg’s 3-pointer with 11 seconds left – for his first points of the half on 1-for-5 shooting.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
Detroit Tigers sweep first-place Tampa Bay Rays after rough May
The Tigers beat the Rays, 7-2, on Wednesday as Detroit scored 25 runs with 10 homers in the three-game series.
Detroit — Tarik Skubal has been through this before.
When he was coming back from flexor tendon surgery in 2023, he made two rehab starts with High-A West Michigan. One of those starts came against the Dayton Dragons, the same team he will face Sunday in what may be his one and only rehab start this year.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “I have some history with them (smiles). I pitched two innings and they swung at every pitch. I got through in like eight pitches and I was like, ‘Guys, this does nothing for anybody involved.’”
The reason Skubal is making the start in Grand Rapids is because the weather forecast for both Triple- A Toledo in Iowa and for Double-A Erie in Richmond, Virginia, is bad.
“I’m excited I get to go compete again,” Skubal said. “It’s been about a month or so and when you don’t get to play, it sucks. I’m excited to compete. I don’t really care about what level it’s at. Ideally, it would be Triple A, but with the weather there, it doesn’t seem like it’d be smart to send me there to potentially not throw.”
It’s quite remarkable, actually, that Skubal is at this point this quickly. He had a loose body in his elbow removed by a relatively new arthroscopic procedure using a smaller, less invasive needle on May 6.
Through a couple of live bullpen sessions, he’s built himself to four innings and 60-plus pitches. The goal for Sunday will be five innings, or at least five ups, and between 75-80 pitches.
If that goes well and he recovers well, the Tigers could activate him for the series in Cleveland that starts June 12.
“We were thinking it was going to be three months to recover and when we learned it could be four to six weeks, it felt like a very positive thing,” Skubal said. “To be back and competing again right now is special. Not just for me but for the future of guys who have this injury.”
It’s a positive thing for the Tigers, too, who within a couple of weeks could get Skubal, Justin Verlander (hip) and Casey Mize (groin) back off the injured list. Verlander and Mize will throw bullpens Saturday at Comerica Park.
Manager AJ Hinch said a decision will be made on whether to activate Verlander after that session. He said Mize will need to make at least one rehab start.
Reliever Kenley Jansen (pelvic inflammation) threw a bullpen Friday. He will be eligible to return on June 12, as well. Hinch indicated Jansen also will make a rehab appearance before being cleared.
“It gives us a performance boost more than anything,” manager AJ Hinch said. “Our guys have been grinding quite a bit. I don’t know how to accurately describe that energy. But there’s a ton of energy when you get Gleyber (Torres) and Carp (Kerry Carpenter) back. And these guys are watching those pitchers do their work to get back.
“It’s not anything against the guys we have. We have to try to win tonight’s game without those (pitchers). There’s a lot going on behind the scenes to get ready to play the game. But the lineup looks at little better.”
It was a compelling juxtaposition Friday afternoon, Skubal addressing the media flanked by the empty lockers of Mize and Verlander along the same back wall of the clubhouse.
“Coming off a really good series in Tampa,” he said. “Flipping the script on that road trip gave everyone in the room a ton of confidence. And now, obviously, we got some help coming back. And frankly, there needs to be a sense of urgency with this group if we want to make a push to be in it for the rest of the year.”
It goes without saying, of course, that making a push likely will be the only thing that keeps Skubal, a free agent in the offseason, off the trade block in late July and early August.
“We’ve dug ourselves a hole and it’s got to be up to us to get ourselves out of it,” he said. “Getting some talent back is going to help. But until we get that talent back, we’ve got to win tonight’s game. That should be the focus. It shouldn’t be when are we going to get this wall back, it should be let’s win today and we’ll get those guys back when we get them.”
Mariners at Tigers
First pitch: 1:10 p.m. Saturday, Comerica Park, Detroit
TV/radio: Detroit Sports Net, 97.1/107.9 FM
Scouting report
▶ RHP Bryce Miller (1-0, 1.71), Mariners: The start of his season was delayed by a left oblique strain, but he’s wasted no time getting back in a groove. In four games (three starts), he’s allowed four earned runs with 20 strikeouts and four walks in 21 innings, while holding hitters to a .200 average, .320 slug and a 25% hard-hit rate. His four-seam fastball has ticked up, from 94.8 mph on average last season to 96.7. He’s splitter is also 2 mph firmer. And in case that’s not enough, he mixes sliders, cutters, sweepers (to righties) and knuckle-curves (to lefties).
▶ RHP Keider Montero (2-3, 3.69), Tigers: He’s coming off a gem against the White Sox (six, two-hit, shutout innings in 65 pitches). His improvement against left-handed hitters has taken his game up a level. In his career, lefties have a .449 slug and .771 OPS against him. This season, he’s neutralized them, .378 slug, .644 OPS. Lefties are 18 for 105 (.171) against his four-seam, changeup and slider combo.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
A motorist was injured after their vehicle was struck by gunfire early Friday on Interstate 94 in Detroit’s east side, Michigan State Police reported.
The investigation resulted in the closure of the eastbound lanes of I-94 at Chalmers Avenue in Wayne County. The highway was closed at 5:52 a.m. and remained closed at 7 a.m., according to Michigan Department of Transportation traffic reports.
Motorists are encouraged to avoid the area and use alternate routes while the investigation continues. Motorists could re-enter I-94 at Cadieux Road.
State troopers said they were notified about 4:55 a.m. about a shooting that had occurred around 1:57 a.m. on eastbound I-94 near Harper Avenue. The victim later went to a local hospital to seek treatment for gunshot wounds.
During the investigation, troopers learned the victim’s vehicle had been struck multiple times by gunfire.
Michigan Department of Transportation traffic reports are at the MI Drive site.
Kyle Whittingham says appeal of Michigan football job was obvious
New Michigan football coach Kyle Whittingham said the appeal of the job was obvious on Sunday, Dec. 28, in Orlando.
Michigan football’s summer recruiting heater isn’t slowing down.
The Wolverines landed a commitment from four-star cornerback Blake Jenkins out of Katy, Texas (Katy Tompkins) on Thursday, June 4, which he announced on a livestream. Jenkins picked Michigan out of a final five that also included Alabama, Texas, Vanderbilt and SMU.
Jenkins, who stands 6 feet 1½ and 185 pounds, is the No. 33 cornerback in the nation, the No. 43 ranked player in Texas and No. 283 overall prospect in the class of 2027, per 247Sports composite rankings.
“Natural man corner with size and athleticism to match up with outside targets,” wrote 247Sports recruiting analyst Gabe Brooks. “Willing tackler with a lean, wiry frame that can add mass to enhance finishing strength.
“Displays sudden athleticism in press situations, whether covering short-to-intermediate routes or turning and running downfield.”
Jenkins had 26 tackles and two interceptions as a junior, according to his recruiting profile, and is the third cornerback to commit to U-M’s 2027 class, joining four-star Tavares Harrington and four-star Darius Johnson.
Michigan also has one safety commit in the class, Charles Woodson Jr., son of former U-M Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson. With the addition of Jenkins, Michigan now has 16 commits in its class of 2027 and has climbed up to No. 16.
Michigan has some recent success with players from Katy, Texas, as last year’s breakout star, Andrew Marsh, went to Katy Jordan.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
-
Detroit, MI12 minutes ago‘I could have died’: 14-year-old speaks out after surviving shooting during ‘teen takeover’ in Detroit
-
San Francisco, CA27 minutes agoDriver Who Raped Woman After She Mistook His Car For An Uber Convicted By Bay Area Jury
-
Dallas, TX30 minutes agoHouse fire on Dallas Court in Rockford leaves more than $100K in damage
-
Miami, FL35 minutes agoWildlife officers investigate raccoon attack in North Miami
-
Boston, MA42 minutes agoBoston Pride for the People Parade is set to step off, with history, protest in mind
-
Denver, CO45 minutes agoHow a Christian Braun Trade to the Mavericks Could Help Nuggets
-
Seattle, WA50 minutes agoSeattle Hotel Workers Are on the Verge of Striking Ahead of the World Cup – The Stranger
-
San Diego, CA57 minutes agoSan Diego restores $10M in arts funding, reversing proposed budget cuts. Here’s how.
