Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
Final Four: Yaxel Lendeborg vows to play vs. UConn after finishing win over Arizona with MCL, ankle injuries — ‘I’m gonna play unless I can’t walk’
Michigan All-American Yaxel Lendeborg returned to Saturday’s Final Four win over Arizona after suffering knee and ankle injuries and vowed after the game to play in Monday’s NCAA title game against UConn.
Lendeborg confirmed postgame that he sprained his left MCL and injured his ankle on a fall in the first half. He missed most of the first half, but returned to play briefly in the second half of Michigan’s runaway win.
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He hit two 3s in the opening minutes of the second half to help Michigan extend its lead as the Wolverines cruised to a 91-73 victory.
Lendeborg left the court with 13:32 remaining and Michigan holding a 66-45 lead. He briefly returned later in the half, but finished the game on the bench with a wrap around his knee as Michigan was comfortably in control.
Lendeborg finished with 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in 14 minutes while shooting 3 of 4 from the floor. The attention now turns to his health and availability for Monday’s championship game against UConn, which beat Illinois in Saturday’s first Final Four game.
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Lendeborg: ‘I’m gonna play unless I can’t walk’
Lendeborg told TNT after the game that he’s confident he’ll play Monday night.
“Coach said at worst, like MCL sprain,” Lendeborg said. “ And obviously, I rolled my ankle. I’m gonna push through. There’s no way I’m missing the game on Monday night, no matter what goes on.
“I’m gonna play unless I can’t walk at all.”
Lendeborg maintained a noticeable limp as he walked of the court following Michigan’s win.
Lendeborg in pain after scary fall
Lendeborg left the game with his injuries as Michigan held a 28-14 lead with 8:41 remaining in the first half. He rolled his left ankle after stepping on the foot of Arizona’s Motiejus Krivas on a drive to the basket.
He was in obvious pain as he stood up from his fall. He was fouled on the play and was able to shoot free throws before limping off the court to the Michigan locker room.
Lendeborg was able to briefly return to the Michigan bench before the end of the half, but again limped off the court before halftime. He didn’t return until the second half.
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Arizona reeled off seven straight points after he left the game to cut Michigan’s lead to 28-21. But Michigan withstood the run and went into halftime with a 48-32 lead. The Wolverines dominated the second half despite the limitations of their best player.
Lendeborg is critical to Michigan’s hopes of beating UConn in Monday’s title game. A senior forward, Lendeborg has averaged 15.2 points, 7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals this season while shooting 52% from the field and 37.2% from 3.
He’s a consensus first-team All-American and was named Big Ten Player of the Year while leading Michigan to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. He’s been Michigan’s most valuable player while leading the Wolverines in a dominant NCAA tournament run to the Final Four and, now, to the title game.
In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.
Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.
Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.
“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.
It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.
Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.
Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.
Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.
A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.
AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.
With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.
As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.
“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”
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