Michigan Blows Out Saint Louis To Reach Sweet 16, Yaxel Lendeborg Shines

BUFFALO, NY — No. 1 Michigan’s defense stepped up and delivered a 95-72 win against No. 9 Saint Louis to send the Wolverines back into the Sweet 16.

The Wolverines have now reached the second weekend in each of the program’s past seven tournament appearances dating to 2017. Saint Louis was looking for its first trip to the Sweet 16 since 1957.

All-America forward Yaxel Lendeborg led Michigan with 25 points on 9 of 13 shooting. Center Aday Mara had 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and a team-leading 4 blocks.

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Saint Louis was led by guard Dion Brown's 13 points. Playing in his final college game, center Robbie Avila had 9 points on just 3 of 13 shooting, including 3 of 10 from 3-point range.

The Billikens came into Saturday ranked eighth nationally with 87.7 points per game after beating No. 9 Georgia 102-77 in the opening round.

This matchup of two high-powered offenses lived up to expectations in the early going, with a back-and-forth pace leaving Saint Louis ahead 27-25 at the midpoint of the opening half.

But the U-M defense began to assert itself as the Wolverines’ size up front impacted the Billikens’ ability to get to the basket. After scoring 66 points in the paint in the opener against No. 8 Georgia, SLU had 16 such points at the break while UM had six blocks, four by Mara.

Overall, SLU shot 45.5% from the field and made 5 of 17 from 3-point range in the first half, which ended with Michigan leading 48-39 after a pair of Lendeborg free throws with 5.6 seconds left. The first 20 minutes featured seven ties and three lead changes.

The pace picked up again coming out of the break. The two teams combined for 29 points in the first five-plus minutes of the second half, including four 3-pointers by SLU, to leave Michigan ahead 61-55 with 14:17 left.

UM pushed its lead to 66-57 with 11:44 left on an emphatic slam in transition by Lendeborg, who elevated from well outside the circle and dunked over SLU guard Quentin Jones. The lead would grow to 15 points at 73-58 just over a minute later and then to 81-63 on a Morez Johnson Jr. layup with 7:30 to play.

Needing to spark a comeback, the Billikens turned to the long-range game but couldn’t connect: SLU finished shooting 12 of 27 from 3, including 5 of 15 in the second half after making four of its first six coming out of the break.

Lendeborg would give U-M its biggest lead, at 25 points, with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 89-64 with just over five minutes left.

Michigan will next face the winner of No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Texas Tech in the Midwest Region. The program’s stretch of seven Sweet 16 berths in as many tournament appearances spans three coaches — John Beilein, Juwan Howard and Dusty May — and gives May two trips to the Sweet 16 in as many years since being hired from Florida Atlantic.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michigan advances to Sweet 16 with thumping win over Saint Louis