ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The No. 2-ranked Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball team (24-1, 14-1 Big Ten) returned to Ann Arbor for a Valentine’s Day beatdown, taking down the UCLA Bruins (17-8, 9-5 Big Ten) 86-56.
In the victory, which was their 10th in a row, fans with seconds ticking away started chanting “We’re No. 1″ as they believed that with Arizona losing earlier in the week, they would be the No. 1 team in the nation.
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Yaxel Lendeborg finished the game with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Morez Johnson Jr. chipped in with 15 points, and Nimari Burnett added 12 for the Wolverines.
Saturday’s (Feb. 14) game was a “white out” at Crisler Center as fans were encouraged to wear white.
The first 5,000 fans received a white rally towel, presented by Coca-Cola.
The Bruins, who had not played since Feb. 7, won five of their last six games before falling to the men in maize.
Prior to Saturday, their only loss was a 98-97 overtime defeat to Indiana at Pauley Pavilion.
UCLA boasts a strong home record of 14-1 but struggles on the road, falling to 3-7.
Michigan last faced UCLA inside Crisler Arena during the 2017-18 season on Dec. 9, 2017 — nearly eight years ago.
In that game, Michigan rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to force overtime and won 78-69.
Saturday was the 11th straight home sellout in their first-ever whiteout.
1st half
The Wolverines won the tip and fed the ball to big man Aday Mara, who threw a behind-the-back pass to Morez Johnson Jr. for the dunk, taking a 2-0 lead.
Mara got called for a foul on a block attempt, but the Bruins player missed both free throws.
Yaxel Lendeborg got involved on defense by getting a massive block on the next possession.
Elliot Cadeau drew a defensive foul, leading to an inbounds pass to Johnson Jr., who completed the and-one to take a 5-0 lead.
Johnson Jr. got a turnover while moving his feet on defense.
Xavier Booker was left wide open for an uncontested three-pointer to put the Bruins on the board.
Mara got hammered under the rim against his former team, missing the first free throw, but making the second before getting subbed out for Roddy Gayle Jr.
Lendeborg got a steal and found Gayle Jr., who hit Johnson Jr. for an easy bunny.
After snagging the defensive rebound, Lendeborg ran the floor for a layup as Michigan took a 10-3 lead.
Jamar Brown made a seven-foot jumper before a foul on Gayle Jr. was called, leading to a timeout with 14:58 to play as Michigan led 10-5.
L.J. Cason entered the game, finding Lendeborg, who drove to the paint, missed a contested floater, but got his own rebound and got fouled, sending him to the line, where he split the pair.
Cadeau found Gayle Jr. for a wide-open three-pointer to push the lead to 14-5.
Skyy Clark drained a three-pointer, but Cason followed suit with a three-pointer of his own.
Clark tried to draw a charge on Lendeborg, who got clipped out of the air, drawing a defensive foul, sending him to the line for two. Making both.
Tyler Bilodeau made a reverse layup to cut into the lead before Gayle Jr. fumbled a rebound out of bounds, leading to an official’s timeout with 11:41 to play.
Will Tschetter entered the game and picked up a foul, sending Trent Perry to the line for two free throws, making both as Michigan led 19-12.
Cason pulled out his best James Harden step-back three-pointer, drilling it to take a 22-12 lead.
Trey McKenney got called for his first foul of the game.
Tschetter got called for his second foul, leading to a Donovan Dent layup.
Perry got an offensive rebound and put back as UCLA cut the deficit to six.
Cason found Johnson Jr. for a contested layup.
Steven Jamerson II grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back in the basket as Michigan led 26-18 with 8:18 to play.
Perry caught Cadeau napping and drained a three-pointer as UCLA trailed 26-21 before Cadeau got called for a foul, leading to another timeout with 7:34 to play.
Dusty May needed to find a way to keep his guys engaged as UCLA got back into the game with offensive rebounds and wide-open shots in the first half.
Nimari Burnett, who got off to a slow start, re-entered the game.
Lendeborg got fouled during an inbounds play, went to the line on a one-in-one, and made both to take a seven-point lead.
Dent hit a tough floater to cut the deficit to five.
An offensive foul got called on UCLA head coach Mick Cronin, sending Lendeborg to the line for two, splitting the pair.
Mara got fouled and sent to the line, splitting the pair as Michigan went back up by seven.
Cadeau went old school one-on-one, sparking with some razzle-dazzle to the basket for the applause, his first two points of the game as Michigan led 32-23 with 4:49 to play.
Timeout UCLA.
Gayle Jr. drew a charge, leading to a Lendeborg hard foul at the rim, sending him to the floor.
Lendeborg went back to the line, splitting the pair.
Perry made a floater before Burnett got on the scoreboard with a dunk.
Bilodeau made a wide-open three-pointer before Burnett put himself in a spin cycle for a layup.
Burnett then found Mara for an uncontested jumper, before Bilodeau was left wide open again, making another three-pointer with 2:04 to play, timeout Michigan.
Cadeau got sent to the line, splitting the pair as Michigan led by nine.
Bilodeau made a contested bunny to cut the deficit back to seven.
Bad defense and poor free-throw shooting kept UCLA in the game as Eric Dailey Jr. got fouled by Cason, splitting the pair.
UCLA trailed by four after a Perry layup, leading to a timeout by Michigan.
Michigan turned the ball over with seven seconds to play as Dent drove full court to beat the buzzer with a layup, as UCLA stormed all the way back to trail 40-38 at halftime.
In the first half, the game was reminiscent of the Wisconsin Badgers game, as their center made uncontested shots while Michigan turned the ball over and missed free throws, which led to the loss.
Bilodeau had 10 points to end the half while Perry finished with 11.
2nd half
UCLA got the ball to open the half, but shot an airball that got deflected out of bounds.
Michigan didn’t fare better as Mara shot a last-second airball for a shot-clock violation.
Mara found Burnett for a wide-open three-pointer, his first from beyond the arc in the game.
With the shot clock winding down, Dent made a contested layup to cut the deficit back to three, but Cadeau made a contested layup to go back up five.
Dent continued to get aggressive as he blew by Gayle Jr. and got fouled on a block attempt.
He went to the line and missed, as Detroit Pistons NBA champion Rasheed Wallace used to say, “Ball don’t lie.”
Burnett drove to the basket and found Cadeau for a wide-open jumper.
Lendeborg stole the ball and went coast to coast for the layup.
Another turnover led to a Perry basket, before Burnett drove to the hole and was blocked, but the referees called “goaltending,” and Michigan took a 51-42 lead with 15:25 to play.
Timeout.
Booker got a dunk as the shot clock expired, but an official’s timeout was called with 14:54 to play to review the play, which was overturned, wiping the basket off the board.
Gayle Jr. turned the ball over on the next possession, leading to an offensive rebound by Booker and a put-back.
Lendeborg drained a wide-open three-pointer as Michigan took a 54-44 lead.
McKenney finally got on the scoreboard as he drove to the basket for a contested layup, as Michigan led by 12.
Lendeborg got called for a foul on Perry, who split the pair.
After the foul, Lendeborg drained another three-pointer.
Lendeborg had 17 points with 12:27 to play, and it seemed like he finally found his stroke from long range.
Clark drew a foul and got sent to the line, making both free throws as the deficit was back to 12.
Gayle Jr. made a Michael Jordan up-and-under to go back up 14.
Mara got a block, but McKenney tried to draw a foul on a three-on-one before the ball went out of bounds.
Lendeborg had defensive rebounds on consecutive possessions, his eighth rebound of the game.
Cason drove to the basket and converted an and-one before finding Johnson Jr. for a contested layup as Michigan took a 19-point lead.
Tschetter got a block, then Lendeborg came from out of nowhere to get a block of his own, leading to a Cason contested layup as Michigan took a 68-47 lead with 8:13 to play to get the fans back into the game.
What a sequence in the game.
Michigan went on a 28-9 run since halftime, taking a 21-point lead as the game got out of hand fast.
Dailey Jr. made a contested floater before McKenney drew a blocking foul.
Johnson Jr. drew a foul on Dailey Jr., sending him to the line for two, and he made both.
Jamerson II made a diving dunk before Clark hit a three-pointer, and Mara was fouled while attempting a dunk, sending him to the line for two.
Mara stepped to the line and split the pair to take a 17-point lead.
Burnett got fouled on a drive attempt to the basket, sending him to the line for a one-in-one, missing the free throw.
Cadeau got the crowd back into the game after finding Mara for a reverse alley-oop.
Cadeau drew a foul, went to the line, and missed the front end of a one-in-one, leading to a Johnson Jr. rebound and assists to Burnett for a wide-open three-pointer as Michigan led by 22 with 5:04 to play.
Michigan forced another turnover, the Bruins 11th of the game.
Mara found a cutting Johnson Jr. for the big-to-big alley oop as Crisler went bananas.
Mara was found underneath for a two-hand jam against his former team before Dent hit a floater.
Cadeau got sent to the line for a one-in-one, making both as Michigan led 82-56.
Gayle Jr. found Tschetter for a cutting layup.
Tsthetter got a defensive rebound on the next possession, followed by an offensive rebound before getting fouled.
He ended the game with an impressive layup as Michigan went on to win 86-56.