CHICAGO − That’s why he’s the Big Ten Player of the Year.
Michigan basketball was up by 15, then allowed a 23-4 Wisconsin run to fall behind. After retaking the lead on an Elliot Cadeau 3-pointer in the final minute, Wisconsin's Nick Boyd responded with one of his own to tie the score with less than 30 seconds left.
That’s when the ball found Yaxel Lendeborg on the right wing on a swing pass from Elliot Cadeau, as Lendeborg nailed the game-winning 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to avenge Michigan's lone loss from the Big Ten regular season with a 68-65 win on Saturday, March 14 at United Center.
Michigan now advances to the Big Ten Tournament championship game and has wins over all 17 teams in the league.
The Wolverines will play the winner of 7-seed Purdue and 6-seed UCLA on Sunday in the final high-major basketball game before Selection Sunday, looking for their second Big Ten Tournament tile in as many years under Dusty May.
Michigan was down eight with less than four minutes to play in the first half, then put together a 36-13 run over the next 14 minutes to lead 54-39 with 9:50 to play. Then the Badgers went unconscious, hitting eight 3-poitners in less than six minutes, the final five of which came from Austin Rapp, to go on a 23-4 burst in just 5:36 to take a four-point lead.
Aday Mara hit a midrange jumper to get U-M back within two and then a layup to tie things with less than two minutes. After Elliot Cadeau missed a 3 from the left wing, Lendeborg skied for an offensive rebound, corralled it and kicked it back out to Cadeau.
He hesitated for half a beat, then let it rip, and the ball rolled around every inch of the rim, hit off the backboard and then fell through the hoop. Wisconsin responded when Boyd hit a step-back 3 with left than 30 seconds to go before the Big Ten Player of the Year ended it.
Yaxel Lendeborg hits it 🏹
The @bigten POY gives @umichbball the lead with 0.3 left.#B1GMBBT on CBS 📺 pic.twitter.com/4Ep4GUz2nZ
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 14, 2026
Mara scored 16 to lead the Wolverines, Cadeau added 15, Lendeborg had 12 and Trey McKenney scored 10.
Rapp led Wisconsin with 18 while Boyd needed 20 shots to get his 14 points, John Blackwell scored 13 and Aleksas Bieliauskas finished with 10.
Michigan punches first, can’t quite pull away
It was tied, 28-28 at the half, when the Badgers' legs on its third game in three days appeared to catch up to them. The Wolverines made them pay. The Badgers made just one of their first 10 shots out of the break, while Michigan had a run of five straight, putting together a 13-2 push to go up 42-31.
Michigan was out of sorts for much of the first half after Cadeau picked up his second foul and sat the rest of the way, but his return provided a notable boost in the second half.
He hit a slashing layup to go up six, then moments later a floater to go up eight. Finally, his 3 from the left wing gave U-M its first double-digit lead with 14:20 left. It helped that Lendeborg woke up, too.
He was scoreless for the first 19:49 of the game until his 3 from the left corner tied the game going into the half. That seemed to serve as a spark. He hit a spinning layup in the midst of U-M’s spurt early in the second half, then caught a handoff underneath from Mara for a layup to go back up 11, then made it 13 when he slashed down the lane and caught another Mara feed for a slam to go up 15.
That’s when the madness ensued.
Fortunate to keep it close
The way the Wolverines played in the opening 20 minutes, they were lucky to be tied and not trailing by at least a few possessions.
Michigan made just 8 of 30 shots (26.7%), exactly half of which came from long range, going 4-for-15. Meanwhile, turnovers continued to be an issues, as the Wolverines gave the ball away eight times.
Michigan led 6-3 early as the Badgers started 1 of 10 from the floor. From there, they heated up, hitting three consecutive 3-pointers, the last of which came from Bieliauskas.
After he canned another and Boyd came away with a steal from McKenney and laid it in, the Badgers led by seven. Elliot Cadeau picked up his second foul with 11:38 to play.
Michigan had just one field goal in a 7:37 stretch, as the Badgers built their lead to as much as 26-18 when Blackwell hit a 3 from the top of the arc.
Michigan closed on a run, however, when Blackwell picked up his second. Morez Johnson Jr. hit a pair of free throws, McKenney hit a deep 3, Mara hit a hook shot along the baseline and Lendeborg scored his first points of the game with 11 seconds left to tie the score at 28 going into the break.
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.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball Big Ten Tournament score in crazy win vs Wisconsin