{"id":705571,"date":"2026-04-08T16:54:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705571\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T16:54:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:54:37","slug":"michigan-wins-programs-2nd-national-title-beating-uconn-69-63","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705571\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan wins program’s 2nd national title, beating UConn 69-63"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 Michigan\u2019s new Fab Five<\/a> threw style points out the door and brought home a prize not even the school\u2019s most famous team could capture.<\/p>\n

The five fabulous transfers who make up coach Dusty May\u2019s starting lineup got down and dirty with the rest of the Wolverines \u2014 coming out with the national title trophy<\/a> Monday night after muscling their way to a 69-63 victory over stingy, stubborn UConn.<\/a><\/p>\n

Michigan only made two 3-pointers all night.<\/p>\n

The Final Four\u2019s most outstanding player, Elliot Cadeau, led the Wolverines with 19 points, including the team\u2019s first 3, which came 7:04 into the second half. The second 3, from freshman Trey McKenney, came with 1:50 left<\/a> and felt like a dagger, giving May\u2019s team \u2014 which had scored 90 points in five straight March Madness games leading to the final \u2014 a nine-point lead.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Michigan muscles its way to program\u2019s 2nd national title, beating stubborn UConn 69-63\n <\/p>\n

Hail to the victors after Michigan has emerged as this year\u2019s March Madness champion. Correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh reports.<\/p>\n

To no one\u2019s surprise, UConn fought to the finish. Solo Ball banked in a 3 to cut the deficit to four with 37 seconds left \u2014 and after two missed free throws, UConn\u2019s Alex Karaban (17 points) barely grazed the rim on a 3 that would\u2019ve cut the deficit to one with 17 seconds left.<\/p>\n

Not until McKenney sank two free throws to bring Michigan\u2019s shooting from the line to 25 for 28 for the night could the Wolverines (37-3) kick off the celebration for the program\u2019s second title \u2014 the other coming in 1989, a few years before the Fab Five arrived and made two trips to the championship game, but never won a title.<\/p>\n

\u201cHAIL TO VICTORS!!!!\u201d Jalen Rose, one of the Fab Five stars, posted on social media.<\/a> \u201cNATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the first men\u2019s hoops title for the Big Ten since Michigan State in 2000. Including UCLA\u2019s win in the women\u2019s NCAA Tournament<\/a> Sunday, the conference swept the football (Indiana) and basketball titles this year.<\/p>\n

Michigan won this one with defense, holding UConn to 30.9% shooting \u2014 the fourth straight game the Wolverines held their opponent to a season-low field-goal percentage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys have done it all year,\u201d May said. \u201cWhen one side of the ball has let us down, the other side has picked it up. Our togetherness defensively ultimately got us over the hump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan had to fight for everything. The Wolverines missed their first 11 shots from 3, finished 2 for 15 beyond the arc and won despite the struggles of their best player, Yaxel Lendeborg. Ailing with a hurt knee and foot that kept him from elevating, the graduate transfer from UAB finished with 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019d told me we would shoot it this poorly and (be) dominated on the glass and still find a way to win, I don\u2019t know if I would have believed you,\u201d May said. \u201cThis team just found a way all season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two 3-pointers were tied for second fewest by a winning team in the title game, according to Sportradar. Michigan also got outrebounded 22-12 on the offensive glass by a UConn team that would not go away. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow are you disappointed at all in your group?\u201d UConn coach Dan Hurley said. \u201cThese guys have 22 offensive rebounds versus that group of \u2018mon-stars\u2019 out there. So, proud of the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truth be told, it wasn\u2019t anyone\u2019s prettiest night.<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s hopes of becoming the first team since John Wooden\u2019s UCLA dynasty to win three titles in four seasons came up short, done in by massive foul trouble and its own terrible shooting.<\/p>\n

Hurley\u2019s team missed its first 11 shots from 3 in the second half.<\/p>\n

Braylon Mullins, the hero of the Duke win that put UConn in the Final Four, finished 4 of 17, though he made a pair of late 3s that kept the game in reach. Tarris Reed Jr., the transfer from Michigan, finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds but never took control.<\/p>\n

UConn (34-6) covered the 6 1\/2-point spread, and Hurley kept his players out on the court to watch the podium get set up for the victors.<\/p>\n

About the only consolation: The Huskies clogged things up, slowed things down and made Michigan beat them at their game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s complicated, because everyone\u2019s crushed,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cWe came here to be out there, doing what those guys are doing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody did it quite like the Wolverines this year. They came into the title game shooting freely and winning big. In each of their five tournament games, they broke 90 and won by 13 or more.<\/p>\n

In this one, they didn\u2019t hit 70 and had to battle to the buzzer. It was ugly \u2014 the opposite of an instant classic. And yet, in almost every way, it was the prettiest of them all for Michigan \u2014 the one that gives the school what the Fab Five couldn\u2019t manage \u2014 namely, a natty.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody cared about stats the whole season,\u201d Cadeau said. \u201cNobody cared about nothing but winning. I\u2019m just glad to be part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Style points aside, this was a championship built from outside \u2014 the best team money could buy.<\/p>\n

All five Wolverines starters played college ball elsewhere, and all but Nimari Burnett came to Ann Arbor this season. That\u2019s a product of the transfer portal that May has shown no reluctance to use since he arrived from Florida Atlantic two seasons ago.<\/p>\n

His ability to form a makeshift group into a winner shows the value of a coach and a culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey might be still calling us mercenaries but we\u2019re the hardest-working team,\u201d Lendenborg said. \u201cWe\u2019re the best in college basketball and we\u2019ll be one of the greatest ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pretty much everyone in the maize and blue would second that.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo BLUE. \u2026champions!!! Respect- Love!\u201d was the social media post from another Fab Five icon, Chris Webber.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP March Madness bracket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ncaa-mens-bracket<\/a> and coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/march-madness<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 Michigan\u2019s new Fab Five threw style points out the door and brought home a prize…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[2377,3376,7,8411,217,325,2340,6133,2342,2329,2495,8761,448,588,113,7102,14220,55358,354,584,1739,1043,27422,231,772,20001,55359,1544,66,54255,449,3549],"class_list":{"0":"post-705571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-alex-karaban","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-chris-webber","12":"tag-college-basketball","13":"tag-college-sports","14":"tag-connecticut","15":"tag-connecticut-huskies","16":"tag-connecticut-huskies-mens-basketball","17":"tag-ct-state-wire","18":"tag-dan-hurley","19":"tag-elliot-cadeau","20":"tag-general-news","21":"tag-in-state-wire","22":"tag-indiana","23":"tag-jalen-rose","24":"tag-john-wooden","25":"tag-march-madness-ncaa-tournament","26":"tag-mens-college-basketball","27":"tag-mi-state-wire","28":"tag-michigan","29":"tag-michigan-wolverines","30":"tag-michigan-wolverines-mens-basketball","31":"tag-ncaa","32":"tag-ncaa-basketball","33":"tag-ncaa-mens-division-i-basketball-championship","34":"tag-ncaa-mens-bracket","35":"tag-ncaab","36":"tag-sports","37":"tag-tarris-reed","38":"tag-u-s-news","39":"tag-yaxel-lendeborg"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}