04/04/26 11:04:00
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04/04 23:03 CDT Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg turns left ankle and injures knee
in Wolverines' Final Four win
Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg turns left ankle and injures knee in Wolverines'
Final Four win
By AARON BEARD
AP Basketball Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) --- Yaxel Lendeborg stood at midcourt with a Michigan
staffer, going through the paces of a halftime warmup at the giant Final Four
midcourt logo. He jogged lightly forward, backward, then shuffled side to side
before hopping around.
He spent much of that time grimacing or biting his lip. And he didn't look much
more comfortable when he did return to start the second half Saturday night
against Arizona.
The good news is Michigan didn't need much from the first-team All-American as
it cruised to an unexpectedly lopsided 91-73 win in a matchup of the NCAA
Tournament's last two No. 1 seeds, not with the Wolverines' depth simply
overwhelming the Wildcats. The question now is how Lendeborg's injuries might
affect him for Monday night's NCAA title game against UConn.
Lendeborg said he rolled his left ankle and sprained his MCL.
"It's a weird feeling to have the pain I am having right now," Lendeborg said
on the postgame broadcast. "I have never experienced it before. ... But I'm
going to bust through. There's no way I'm missing the game on Monday night no
matter what goes on."
Lendeborg finished with 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting in 14 minutes, including a
pair of 3-pointers in his hobbled post-halftime minutes. For much of the second
half, he rode an exercise bike behind the Michigan bench, clapping for baskets
or screaming with glee as the Wolverines made big play after big play.
He also spent time late in the game sitting on the court near the end of the
bench and almost alongside the photographers on the baseline before having an
ice pack wrapped around his left knee. He wore that for the final minutes and
still had it on as he carefully made his way through the postgame handshake
line with the Wildcats.
Lendeborg had a rough start with two quick fouls and then exited after he
stepped on the foot of Arizona big man Motiejus Krivas and twisted his left
ankle, the same one he had tweaked during the loss to Purdue in the Big Ten
Tournament championship game. Lendeborg left the bench for trainers to retape
his ankle and treat it with ice, returned briefly, then went back to the locker
room.
Lendeborg also wore a brace on his left knee when he returned for the second
half. Nevertheless, he immediately made an impact by burying a pair of
3-pointers in the opening 4 1/2 minutes of the second half to show he could be
effective even when hobbled.
Still, Michigan had more than enough to put away Arizona, notably with 7-foot-3
center Aday Mara going for 26 points to lead five players in double figures.
Michigan shot 47.8% and made 12 of 27 3-pointers.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound Lendeborg entered the game averaging 15.2 points, 7.0
rebounds and 3.3 assists.
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and
coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
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