Michigan beats Wisconsin, 68-65 on Yaxel Lendeborg 3-pointer to advance to Big Ten final

Yaxel Lendeborg put No. 3 Michigan in the Big Ten tournament championship final, hitting a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left for a 68-65 win over No. 23 Wisconsin on Saturday.

Wisconsin appeared to run out of gas in its Big Ten tournament semifinal versus Michigan on Saturday. The Badgers fell behind 52-39 midway through the second half and it began to look as if playing three games in three days had tired them out.

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Then Austin Rapp caught fire from 3-point range. The sophomore forward from Melbourne, Australia could not miss, hitting five consecutive shots from behind the arc. That powered a 17-2 run for the Badgers, giving them a 62-58 lead with 3:50 remaining in the game.

Michigan answered with a layup by Aday Mara and 3-pointer from Eliot Cadeau to go back on top, 65-62. But Nick Boyd hit a 3 to tie the score for Wisconsin with 29 seconds left.

Yet that gave Michigan the final possession and Lendeborg made sure Wisconsin didn’t get another chance. The Wolverines move on to the Big Ten championship game on Sunday, awaiting the winner of Purdue-UCLA which tips off at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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Both teams struggled with their shooting against tough defenses in the first half, resulting in a 28-28 tie at halftime. Michigan particularly struggled on 3-point shots, going 4-for-15 from behind the arc, while Wisconsin went 7-of-17. Yet like the end of the game, Lendeborg hit a 3 on the Wolverines’ final possession before halftime to tie the score.

This story will be updated.

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mens-college-basketball/article/michigan-beats-wisconsin-68-65-on-yaxel-lendeborg-3-pointer-to-advance-to-big-ten-final-191433368.html

Author : Ian Casselberry

Publish date : 2026-03-14 19:14:00

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