Yaxel Lendeborg made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining, and No. 3 Michigan beat Nick Boyd and No. 23 Wisconsin 68-65 on Saturday to advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
Aday Mara scored 16 points and Elliot Cadeau had 15 as top-seeded Michigan (31-2) avenged its only conference loss from the season, a 91-88 setback against Wisconsin on Jan. 10. Mara also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked five shots.
Michigan is going for its second straight Big Ten Tournament title and fifth overall. It will play No. 18 Purdue on Sunday after the Boilermakers eliminated UCLA with a 73-66 win.
Lendeborg got off to another slow start after he had just six points in Friday’s quarterfinal victory over Ohio State. But the Big Ten Player of the Year began to assert himself right before halftime, and he connected on the biggest shot of the game.
Lendeborg grabbed an offensive rebound and passed to Cadeau for a 3 with 45 seconds left, giving Michigan a 65-62 lead. But Boyd responded with a tying 3 for Wisconsin.
With the United Center crowd standing in anticipation, Michigan tried to find Lendeborg inside on its last possession. But he ended up making his way back outside before getting a pass from Cadeau and drilling the winning 3.
Wisconsin’s Austin Rapp made six 3-pointers while scoring all of his 18 points in the second half. Boyd had 14 points on 6-for-20 shooting a day after he scored a career-high 38 points in a wild overtime victory over No. 9 Illinois.
The Badgers (24-10) had reached the Big Ten Tournament final in each of the last two years, losing to the Wolverines in 2025.
Shaking off a sluggish start, Michigan closed the first half with a 10-2 run. Lendeborg made a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left, tying it at 28. It was his first basket of the game.
The Wolverines were shooting 26.7% (8 for 30) from the field at the break, but the Badgers weren’t much better at 32.3% (10 for 31).
Michigan beat Purdue 91-80 on Feb. 17. Cadeau scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half of the road win.
Purdue 73, UCLA 66
Oscar Cluff had 17 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 18 Purdue beat short-handed UCLA 73-66 on Saturday to advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
Cluff scored eight points as Purdue outscored UCLA 11-4 over the final 3:41. Fletcher Loyer scored 14. Braden Smith contributed nine more assists, giving him 1,064 in his career. He needs 13 to break Bobby Hurley’s NCAA record of 1,076 for Duke from 1989-93.
Trey Kaufman-Ren added 12 points and 10 rebounds, helping Purdue (26-8) advance to the conference final for the first time since winning the tournament in Chicago in 2023. The Boilermakers will meet No. 3 Michigan. The Wolverines, seeking a championship repeat, beat No. 23 Wisconsin 68-65 when Yaxel Lendeborg made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining.
Already missing star Tyler Bilodeau after he exited Friday’s win over No. 8 Michigan State with a right leg injury, UCLA (23-11) had to get by in the second half without guard Donovan Dent. He suffered a strained calf and was limited to two points in 10 minutes after scoring 23 and dishing out 12 assists against the Spartans.
Trent Perry led UCLA with 15 points. Xavier Booker scored 12, and Eric Dailey Jr. had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Trailing 58-48, UCLA went on a 12-2 run and tied it at 60 on Perry’s jumper with 4:33 remaining. It was 62-all when Cluff scored on a tip-in, C.J. Cox drove for a layup and Cluff scored on a putback with just more than two minutes remaining.
UCLA’s Skyy Clark then made it a four-point game with a layup. But Cluff made four free throws in the final 43 seconds, and the Boilermakers got some payback for a two-point loss at Pauley Pavilion in January.
— Andrew Seligman, Associated Press
