CHICAGO — Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg, who looked every bit the Big Ten player of the year, slammed the ball a mile over his head in celebration as the buzzer sounded. The Wolverines’ bench and throng of fans erupted into euphoria. The Final Four spot this team seemed destined for all season was finally in their grasp.

And it was only halftime.

No. 1 seed Michigan defeated No. 6 seed Tennessee 95-62 to win the Midwest Regional and advance to Indianapolis. It’s the program’s ninth Final Four, first since 2018 and first under second-year head coach Dusty May, who led Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2023.

This one was over long before the Wolverines cut down the nets in the United Center, in front of an overwhelming majority of maize-and-blue fans. Michigan led 48-26 at halftime thanks to a blistering 21-0 run midway through the first half. That five-minute stretch swung a 2-point Tennessee lead into a 19-point Michigan lead, blowing the game wide open. The margin climbed as high as 34 in the final minutes.

The first-half run was a fitting capsule of what the Wolverines have done all season. Michigan was a dominant, big-ball behemoth that bludgeoned its way to a Big Ten regular season title and paced the sport alongside fellow No. 1 seeds Duke and Arizona. Now, with a single-season program record of 35 wins and only three losses, it will have a chance to win the second men’s basketball national championship in school history.

Lendeborg, the team’s 6-foot-8 Swiss Army knife, continued his stellar March Madness with 27 points (10 of 19 from the field), 7 rebounds and 4 assists. It was part of a 50-point weekend for Lendeborg over the course of two games, further burnishing his “Dominican LeBron” nickname. Fellow skyscrapers Aday Mara (7-foot-3) and Morez Johnson Jr. (6-foot-9) each scored in double figures and helped limit Tennessee to just 32 percent from the floor and 12 for 25 on shots at the rim. Michigan had eight blocks.

The Vols were led by 21 points by guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie but shot just 5 for 26 from 3-point range.

It ended a third straight Elite Eight trip in disappointment for the Vols, who have still yet to reach a Final Four in program history. Head coach Rick Barnes has fully shed the March struggles that seemed to plague stretches of his career, but a national semifinal trip continues to elude Tennessee. The Vols have 34 all-time NCAA Tournament wins, the most for any program without a Final Four.

But the story was Michigan, and a win that sets up a heavyweight semifinal bout against Arizona, matching two of the biggest, baddest and best teams all season.

That one should go 12 rounds. On Sunday, the Wolverines delivered a knockout.

This story will be updated.