CHICAGO – With Tennessee already down by 19, one basket wasn’t going to make a difference. The game was effectively over, and whether Michigan won by 10 or 20, the outcome was still going to be the same.
Michigan coach Dusty May challenged the goaltending call, anyway. The Wolverines weren’t just here to win, they were here to send a message:
They’re the best team in the country, and they’ll steamroll anyone who is in their way.
"It's just people stepping up to the moment," Roddy Gayle Jr. said. "I feel like March brings out the best in people."
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It certainly has with this team.
Top-seeded Michigan routed sixth-seeded Tennessee 95-62 on Sunday, March 29, to reach the Final Four for the third time since 2013. With apologies to Moritz Wagner and Glenn Robinson III, these Wolverines have the best chance yet to win the school’s first national title since 1989.
In a span of two days, Michigan humbled the country’s top offensive team and the SEC’s best defensive team, and the Wolverines barely broke a sweat in doing so. They’ve scored 90 or more points and shot 50% or better in each of their NCAA Tournament games, and the 33-point win over Tennessee was the biggest blowout of the weekend.
And if Yaxel Lendeborg isn’t the player of the year, he’s for sure the player of March.
Lendeborg tagged Tennessee for 27 points, his third game with 23 or more, and 10 of those came during a 23-2 run in the first half that effectively sealed the game. He’s making a career’s worth of highlights every game, including his tip-in layup off his own missed 3-pointer with 11:57 left to play against Tennessee.
The Wolverines are not a one-man team, however. Four other players finished in double figures and two others were only a bucket away. Elliot Cadeau had double-digit assists (10) for the fifth time this season.
Whatever those hiccups Michigan had in the Big Ten tournament, where they struggled against Ohio State and Wisconsin before losing to Purdue in the title game, they are long gone. Michigan is rolling, and good luck to anyone who faces them.
Michigan plays fellow No. 1 seed Arizona in the Final Four in Indianapolis on Friday night, April 3.
"When this group got together, we all wanted to make it the national championship and win it," Lendeborg said. "We worked tirelessly on making sure that our mental was right, not just physical. And we all trust each other. We play hard for each other. We make extra plays for each other. We're going to do whatever we want for each other.
"So just being able to make it this far and continuing to want to get more, it means a lot."
Michigan is only two seasons removed from a team that lost 24 games. While quick turnarounds are more doable now with the transfer portal, building chemistry when there's a new coach and new players presents its own challenges.
Add in being thrust into the spotlight as a national title contender a month into the season, and Michigan very easily could have gone sideways.
"The most difficult part is that everyone starts getting so much more attention, advice. Literally everything they get more of," May said. "It's difficult not to make it about you because the people you're talking to are making it about you.
"There's just a lot of distracting information," May added. "And if you're not mature and you're not connected as a group and you're not willing to be held accountable by the staff and each other, then it's not going to work. Once it creeps in it's almost impossible to weed it out. So our guys never let it in.
"They stayed the course and stayed about each other. And that's ultimately why we're here," May said. "We weren't a super team, but these guys became super teammates."
Though Michigan’s Fab Five never won an NCAA title, they changed college basketball with their outsized personalities, baggy shorts and black socks. These Wolverines aren't going to have that kind of influence, but they’ve got a similar brand of fun.
Lendeborg is as goofy as he is good, and Gayle isn’t far behind. They all love to hype each other up — when Lendeborg said Will Tschetter deserved a shout out for his toughness, Nimari Burnett woofed in response — and their tightknit chemistry isn't forced.
They might be stealing people's souls, but they're having a blast doing it.
"That's our main thing. We say before every game to just go out there and have fun," Cadeau said. "We're not worrying about our stats, not worrying about the scoreboard."
Michigan cruised through the regular season, not losing a single Big Ten road game. Its two losses, to Wisconsin in January and Duke in late February, were by a combined eight points. They spent time at No. 1 and were never ranked lower than third after Dec. 1.
But the Wolverines didn't have their usual swagger in the Big Ten tournament. When they lost to Purdue in the title game, it wasn't even that big a surprise.
It also might have been the best thing for them.
"Watching another team cut down the nets, feeling that was something that we didn't want to feel again," Gayle said.
Message received.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michigan basketball makes statement with win over Tennessee in Elite 8
