Yaxel Lendeborg was one of the hottest names in the country coming into the college basketball season. The hype was astronomical, with Andy Katz writing an article that Lendeborg was his No. 1 player for the 2025-26 season. But it didn’t stop there, he was an AP Preseason All-American and was on the watchlist for both the Naismith and Wooden awards. That’s all coming off a season where he averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.
A step up to the Big Ten was expected to be an adjustment, but now we have 21 games to use to evaluate his transition. In almost every measure, Lendeborg has been exactly what Dusty May and the Michigan Wolverines needed from him. The numbers in the box score won’t get the casual fan overly excited — he’s averaging 14.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while shooting 50 percent from the field. Across every one of those metrics, it’s a slight dip in performance from last season.
So why would we be making the argument that he’s been as advertised? It’s all about roster fit, efficiency and his defense.
Roster Fit
This should be the easiest argument I have to make. Shocker: Michigan’s 2025-26 team is much deeper and way more talented than UAB’s in 2024-25. The Wolverines are a legitimate nine players deep, and almost all of them have been or could be a starter at almost another Power 4 program.
UAB was decent last year, finishing 24-13 and third overall in the AAC. But it ran the entirety of its offense through Lendeborg. He led the team in shots per game, minutes, points, rebounds and assists. Clearly, his usage rate soared because of that, and he was used much differently. Lendeborg was more of a facilitator and a back-to-the-basket player who crashed the boards and controlled the painted area. At 6-foot-9, he was more than capable to do that, physically, in a weaker conference.
That’s not going to fly against the 7-footers that roam the Big Ten, and Lendeborg’s skillset offers much more. So Michigan has utilized him differently — he’s more of a pro-style player while Aday Mara and Morez Johnson have more a focus on the middle. Lendeborg is playing as a pseudo-stretch big who relentlessly slashes towards the basket. His build against an opponent’s third biggest player with Michigan’s starting lineup poses a mismatch nightmare for opponents.
There’s evidence of this in his shot selection patterns. Lendeborg is shooting 4.4 three-pointers per game this year on 9.6 shots per game. That shooting from deep is more than double what he attempted last year (1.9), with his focus more on the post. If there’s one critique on Lendeborg, it’s here. Shot selection largely isn’t the problem, but he has work to do to be more efficient from deep. His 30.1 percent clip leaves a lot to be desired, but you won’t hear May asking him to stop shooting any time soon.
That because, importantly, Lendeborg is dangerous off the dribble. He has an NBA frame that is difficult to stop when he’s attacking the hole. Shooting from behind the arc keeps defenders honest as he blows by them and uses his physicality to get buckets and get to the line. That’s where Lendeborg is really standing out. Against Michigan State, he was 13-of-15 from the line. On the year, he’s converting at 84.9 percent. That’s a significant increase from his 75.7 percent rate a season ago.
Efficiency
It’s not just from the free throw line, as Lendeborg’s shot selection has been really strong despite those misses from deep. According to College Basketball Reference, his true shooting percentage has actually increased from 59.2 percent to 62.8 percent. That’s in part because he’s shooting about 2.5 less shots per game, while converting at a 67 percent rate from inside the arc. Taking better shots and getting to the line more often on fewer chances has led to 14.7 points per game compare to 17.7 a year ago.
That’s because he’s playing fewer minutes and in a different style. But both this season and last, Lendeborg is at 21 points and is within a single assist per 40 minutes. The efficiency is amplified even further per 100 possessions, where his offensive rating has jumped to 140.2 from 127.3 last year.
If Lendeborg increases his three-point percentage over the final stretch of the season, these numbers are going to be even more gaudy.
Defense
Last, and maybe the most important factor from Lendeborg has been his defensive prowess. Aday Mara gets a lot of attention, but the area of Lendeborg’s game that has translated best to the Big Ten is his effort on this side of the ball.
Lendeborg has guarded just about every kind of player. When an opponent is playing well and on a run, he puts himself front and center to slow them down. Whether that’s a hot shooting guard on the perimeter or someone who’s wracking up points in the paint (which hasn’t happened often this season).
The result — 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game, ranking ninth and sixth in the conference, respectively. That’s launched him to the second-best defensive rating in the conference.
His frame and skillset makes him a unicorn on defense, and it has allowed Michigan lineup flexibility. When you have a guy like Lendeborg who can guard any type of player, it’s going to open up a mismatch somewhere.
While the traditional stats show a bit of a decline from Lendeborg, which has dropped him in Wooden and Naismith Award odds, the deeper data shows he has been as good as Michigan fans hoped for. He’s the best player on one of the best teams in the country, and he is one of the reasons the Wolverines could make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.