INDIANAPOLIS – Late-game free throws sealed the victory for the No. 1-seeded Michigan Wolverines, who are your 2026 NCAA Tournament national champions after taking down the No. 2-seeded UConn Huskies 69-63 inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
The championship victory on Monday (April 6), which is Michigan’s first since 1989, secured the Big Ten’s first NCAA Tournament title since Tom Izzo and his Michigan State Spartans won in Indianapolis in 2000.
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With the victory, head coach Dusty May won his 64th game in a two-year span out of 77 games with the Wolverines, moving him into a tie with John Calipari (2009-2011) for most wins in a coach’s first two seasons as head coach of any school, all time.
The win also capped off a successful season, securing their 37th victory, a program record.
Michigan, coming into the title game, improved to 8-1 in Final Four games, with its lone loss taking place in 1964.
In the national championship, the Wolverines were 1-6 all-time prior to Monday night, with their lone championship coming at the hands of Glen Rice, Terry Mills, Loy Vaught, Rumeal Robinson, Sean Higgins, and head coach Steve Fisher.
But a new banner will be raised inside Crisler Arena alongside the Final Four and Big Ten regular-season title, as May, in his second season with the program, led them not only to a historic 37-3 season but also to a national championship.
The atmosphere was electric for the Wolverines as their fans traveled to the title game.
It was electric during warmups as fans booed every time they saw the Huskies or if the team was mentioned by the P.A. announcer.
The little general, Elliot Cadeau dominated in the game, as he led all the Wolverines with 19 points, while Yaxel Lendeborg had 13 points on one-leg.
Cadeau was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player after his performance.
Trey McKenney iced the game with two free throws to cap off his night, scoring nine points while grabbing eight rebounds in the victory.
Aday Mara finished with eight points, four rebounds, and one block in the victory.
POSTGAME SOUND COMING
1st half
The Huskies won the tip and couldn’t convert on their opening possession.
Michigan fed the ball inside to Morez Johnson Jr., but he couldn’t make the bunny; the ball got deflected out of bounds and remained with Michigan.
Aday Mara missed under the rim, but Johnson Jr. converted a contested shot.
Former Wolverines big man Tarris Reed Jr. scored on the other end to tie the game at 2-2.
Elliot Cadeau made a bunny at the rim to take a 4-2 lead.
After a defensive stop, Cadeau drew a foul on a three-point shot, sending him to the line for three, making all of them to take a 7-2 lead.
Solo Ball made a corner jumper, but Johnson Jr. made a putback to take a 9-4 lead.
Roddy Gayle Jr. entered the game and got a monster block, sending the ball out of bounds with 15:41 to play, and the officials’ timeout was called.
Out of the timeout, the Huskies inbounded the ball, and a shot clock violation was called.
Mara couldn’t convert a contested jump hook, and Yaxel Lendeborg picked up his first foul of the game while trying to grab a defensive rebound.
Reed Jr. had the ball knocked off his leg, but Michigan couldn’t convert on the other end.
Ball drained a three-pointer, but Cadeau made a contested up-and-under layup while getting fouled, sending him to the line for a three-point play, which he couldn’t convert.
Reed Jr. got called for an offensive foul, shoving Mara out of bounds while trying to grab a rebound.
Up 11-7, Mara got the ball in the paint and couldn’t convert, but Alex Karaban drained a three-pointer as UConn cut the deficit to 11-10.
The Huskies turned defense into offense, drawing a foul on Cadeau, who tried to block a layup attempt, sending Jayden Ross to the line for two, and a timeout with 11:57 to play.
Ross made the first but missed the second, to tie the game at 11-11, but Johnson Jr. overpowered his defender for the bucket.
Malachi Smith made a jumper before Johnson Jr. got called for an offensive foul, leading to a Karaban three-pointer for their first lead of the game.
Johnson Jr. cleaned the glass for a putback before getting a steal on the other end, but Trey McKenney couldn’t convert on an open three-pointer.
Smith split the defense and made a floater before Lendeborg drew a foul on the defense.
Lendeborg couldn’t convert on an open three-pointer, and Johnson Jr. picked up his second foul of the half while boxing out as UConn led 18-15 with 8:33 to play.
McKenney missed a contested floater at the rim before Jaylin Stewart bricked as well.
Mara got a block on Reed Jr., leading to a rim run and layup to cut the deficit to one, before a foul was called with seven minutes to play in the half as UConn led 18-17.
Nimari Burnett grabbed a rebound and got fouled by Braylon Mullins, sending him to the line for a one-in-one, making the first, and the second, taking a one-point lead.
Mullins was named after Wolverines legend Braylon Edwards.
Mara blocked a shot, but Cadeau called for a foul, sending Karaban to the line for two, making both to retake the lead.
Lendeborg drove coast to coast and got fouled, sending him to the line for a one-in-one, making the first and the second to retake the lead, 21-20.
UConn broke Michigan’s press and found Mullins for an open three to take a 23-21 lead.
Burnett missed on the next possession, but Michigan got a stop on the other end as well.
McKenney missed a contested jumper, but Gayle Jr. drew a foul while grabbing the offensive rebound.
He went to the line and made both to tie the game at 23-23.
Mara got a block on Reed Jr., but a goaltending call was made as UConn retook the lead.
Gayle Jr. missed a contested layup, but Reed Jr. got called for an illegal screen, picking up his second foul of the half, leading 25-23 with 3:58 to play.
The Wolverines shot 7-22 with 3:58 to play in the half, while UConn shot 9-24 and 4-10 from deep. Michigan was 0-7.
Gayle Jr. got blocked by Mullins, starting a fastbreak, and found Karaban for an open three, but he missed as McKenney grabbed the defensive rebound.
Lendeborg sprinted up the floor and shot a three-pointer, bricking, but Karaban got called for a hook-and-hold on the offensive rebound attempt with 3:16 to play as an official’s timeout was called.
The hook-and-hold called, sending Johnson Jr. to the line for two, making both to tie the game at 25-25.
After the free throws, Michigan retained possession, finding Lendeborg for a contested bucket to retake the lead, snapping a cold spell of missing eight of nine shots.
UConn missed on the other end, as McKenney grabbed the rebound, finding Mara under in the post for a contested layup to take a 29-25 lead with 2:24 to play before the Huskies called a timeout.
The Maize Rage in attendance erupted as Michigan went on a 6-0 run to take a four-point lead as their offense stalled since Cadeau got called for his second foul of the half.
Out of the timeout, trailing 29-25, UConn found Ball for a three-pointer to cut the deficit to one, but Mara took Reed Jr. to the basket for a layup.
Both teams missed on their next possessions.
UConn got the ball with under 50 seconds to play, but couldn’t convert as Gayle Jr. cleaned up the Lendeborg rim run with a monster putback jam.
Lendeborg was called for a foul with 2.6 seconds on Reed Jr., sending him to the line for two; he missed the first and made the second, as Michigan led 33-29 at the break.
Michigan, with the game tied at 23-23, went on a 10-6 run to end the half to take a four-point lead.
The Wolverines shot poorly from beyond the arc, finishing 0-8 in the first half, while UConn shot 5-15 and 10-30 from the field.
Michigan shot 11-30 from the field but went to the line 12 times, making 11, while UConn shot 4-6 from the line.
Both teams looked out of sync to start the game, which could be due to jitters, but Dan Hurley and May are magicians and will look to get their guys going in the second half.
UConn had no players in double figures in the first half, as Karaban and Ball each finished with 8 points.
The Wolverines were led by Johnson Jr., who finished with 10 points, followed by seven points from Cadeau and six from Mara at the half.
2nd half
UConn opened the half with the ball but couldn’t convert as Mara got the rebound and pulled a Wes Unseld pass, finding Burnett on a fastbreak, but got fouled on the dunk attempt by Ball.
Burnett made both to take a six-point lead.
Reed Jr. cleaned the glass on his own miss for the putback.
Michigan turned the ball over out of bounds on the next play.
Reed Jr. launched a pass out of bounds for the turnover.
Burnett missed a three-pointer, leading to a push by UConn, but Reed Jr. had the ball poked away by Mara for the steal.
Mara threw a bad pass to Johnson Jr. for the turnover, but Burnett got the steal and lost the ball out of bounds.
Cadeau got a defensive rebound and pushed the ball up the floor for a contested layup, drawing a foul on Ball, his fourth of the game, making the contested layup.
He went to the line and converted the three-point play as the Michigan fans got back into the game.
Gayle Jr. got called for a foul on the reach-around.
Cadeau got a steal but couldn’t convert on the other end.
Mullins got an offensive rebound and made the layup to cut the deficit to 38-33.
Lendeborg went strong to the hole and drew contact on Reed Jr. while shooting a floater, which bounced around the rim and fell through, going to the line for a potential three-point play.
The foul was Reed Jrs. third of the game, an official’s timeout was called with 15:16 to play.
Out of the timeout, Lendeborg stepped to the line in his cool grey Air Jordan 11 retros and made the free-throw to take a 41-33 lead.
Michigan forced a turnover on Smith, who dribbled the ball out of bounds.
Cadeau missed a three, leading to a Smith rim run to cut the deficit to six.
McKenney put his defender in the spin cycle for the jumper, but Karaban got a putback on the next play.
Cadeau drove to the hole for an uncontested layup.
Reed Jr. couldn’t convert, leading to a Cadeau three-pointer as Michigan took an 11-point lead as UConn took a timeout with 12:47 to play.
Cadeau’s three-pointer was his 12th point of the game as the crowd went bananas.
During the timeout, John Beilein, Adam Schefter, Bill Murray, Kemba Walker, and Detroit Pistons NBA champion Richard Hamilton were shown on the Jumbotron.
UConn came out of the timeout with their set and found Jayden Ross under the basket, but got blocked out of bounds, and a foul was called to the dismay of the fans.
Ross made both to cut the deficit to nine.
Cadeau got blocked
Will Tschetter took the ball and, with Lendeborg under the basket on a two-on-one fastbreak, got caught in midair and couldn’t convert.
Mullins got blocked at the rim by Johnson Jr. out of bounds with 11:33 to play.
Reed Jr. took Johnson Jr. down low for two points.
Cadeau couldn’t convert on the other end before Johnson Jr. got tackled out of bounds on the defensive rebound.
Johnson Jr. cleaned the glass on the other end to take a nine-point lead, but got called for his
Gayle Jr. attacked the glass for the defensive rebound, and a tie-up was called as Reed Jr. made the hustle play.
Karaban made the layup after a steal to cut the deficit to seven.
Silas Demary made a contested layup, and Gayle Jr. turned the ball over.
Michigan turned defense into offense as Gayle Jr. found Mara for the lob off of the deflection for the big slam to take a 52-45 lead with 7:16 to play.
Out of the timeout, Michigan, up seven, ran a lob play for Mara from Cadeau, but the ball sailed out of bounds.
Mara got called for a foul on Reed Jr. to the dismay of the fans.
UConn went back to Reed Jr., but he couldn’t convert, leading to a McKenney rim run. He got hammered, sending him to the line for two, and he converted both.
Lendeborg got called for a foul, sending Karaban to the line for two, missing both.
Lendeborg made a contested layup under the basket to take an 11-point lead, but Mullins made a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 48-56 as an official’s timeout was called with 5:51 to play.
Lendeborg drove to the basket but missed, cleaned up his own miss for the putback, but Mullins drained a three-pointer to cut the deficit to seven.
The hobbled superstar attacked the basket and drew a foul on Ross, going to the line for two, making the first and then the second with 4:13 to play.
Reed Jr. drew a foul on the other end on Johnson Jr., his fourth of the game, with 3:48 to play.
Reed Jr. stepped to the line and made both to cut the deficit to seven.
McKenney shot a contested floater and nearly airballed as UConn got the rebound, but Mullins got called for an offensive foul, sending Cadeau to the floor.
Cadeau got fouled again, this time on offense by Demary Jr., sending him to the line for a one-in-one, making the first and then the second for his 16th point of the game.
Karaban hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to six with over two minutes to play, but Michigan turned over as Reed Jr. saved the ball underneath his own basket, but Ball couldn’t finish.
McKenney drilled a three-pointer on a broken play to nearly ice the game.
Reed Jr. got fouled with 1:23 to play, sending him to the line where he converted both to cut the deficit to seven.
Demary Jr. fouled out, hitting Cadeau with 1:07 to play, sending him to the line for another one-in-one, making the first and the second as Michigan led by nine.
Karaban got fouled and went to the line, where he converted both.
McKenney nearly turned the ball over, but dove on the floor where he was tied up, but the possession arrow remained with Michigan with 48.8 to play.
Michigan turned the ball over on the inbounds as Lendeborg couldn’t contain the ball with 45.7 to play.
UConn, with the ball, found Ball for a contested long three-point shot to cut the deficit to five with 37.2 to play.
Gayle Jr. got fouled with 29.5 to play, going to the line and missed both.
Karaban missed a three-pointer, and McKenney got the rebound and was fouled with 13.4 to play.
McKenney stepped to the line and made the first to take a five-point lead.
He made the second to go to seal the game.