March Madness: Top Seed Michigan Power Past Saint Louis Into Sweet 16

Yaxel Lendeborg punctuated his 25-point outing pinch a monolithic dunk successful transition, and nan Midwest Region’s top-seeded Michigan precocious to nan Sweet 16 pinch a 95-72 triumph complete Saint Louis successful nan 2nd information of nan NCAA Tournament connected Saturday.

Morez Johnson Jr had 15 and 8 rebounds for Michigan (33-3), who matched a programme grounds for victories group during their seventh and astir caller Final Four quality successful 2018.

The Wolverines’ 7ft 3in halfway Aday Mara had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks to summation his play blocks full to 96, 1 short of matching Michigan’s single-season grounds group by Roy Tarpley successful 1985-86.

The Wolverines precocious to nan information of 16 for nan 2nd consecutive twelvemonth and seventh clip since 2017. They’ll play nan victor of Texas Tech and Alabama astatine Chicago connected Friday.

Amari McCottry had 14 points and 5 rebounds for Saint Louis (29-6), who saw their play extremity aft mounting a single-season grounds for wins pinch its 102-77 first-round triumph complete Georgia.

The Wolverines’ size and extent proved excessively overmuch for nan ninth-seeded Billikens, who dropped to 0-6 successful second-round games.

Michigan peculiarly took distant nan Billikens’ superior strength, their extracurricular shooting game, limiting Saint Louis to 5 of 17 three-point attempts done nan first half, and 10 of 32 overall.

Billikens elder Robbie Avila, who entered ranking 3rd among NCAA centers pinch 211 profession 3-point baskets, struggled to find his range, finishing 3 of 13 – including 3 of 10 three-pointers.

After trading leads six times done nan first 10 minutes, Michigan went up for bully connected Trey McKenney’s three-pointer pinch 9:37 near successful nan first half. The handbasket sparked a 9-0 run. And nan Wolverines put nan crippled distant midway done nan 2nd half pinch their modulation crippled and a unit defense.

Lendeborg had a highlight-reel dunk by bullying his measurement done 2 defenders and finishing his modulation thrust pinch a dunk to put Michigan up 66-57. A small complete a infinitesimal later, Michigan’s property cashed in, pinch Nimari Burnett intercepting Brady Dunlap’s walk and taking it nan different measurement for a layup to make it 73-58.