What we're watching
• One shining moment: It all comes down to Monday night in Indianapolis: Michigan takes on the University of UConn for the men’s basketball national championship. Michigan is making a big run to start the second half and is up double-digits.
• Michigan looks unstoppable: After bullying Arizona with a nearly perfect performance in the Final Four, the Wolverines were heavily favored coming into Monday’s matchup.
• UConn goes for history: Dan Hurley’s team is looking to do something that hasn’t been done since John Wooden’s famous UCLA teams of the 1970s: Win three national titles in four years.
Michigan comes out of halftime hot and builds its biggest lead of the game
Michigan takes the biggest lead of the game with a torrid start out of halftime, building an eight -point lead.
The Wolverines have been led by Elliot Cadeau, the smallest player on the floor who is simply going straight into the paint and powering up shots through fouls. Everything that the Wolverines have done well has gone through their 6-foot-1 point guard.
The Huskies are trying to hold on as Michigan unleashes its assault and it’s going to take a strong bit of defense from Danny Hurley’s team to withstand this run. Michigan has come out of halftime and absolutely blown people away this season, and that’s what they’re trying to do now.
It’s 41-33 Michigan with 15 minutes to go in this game.
The second half is underway and we're 20 minutes from crowning a champ
Here we go – 20 minutes until we have a national champion. The second half is underway here in Indianapolis.
Michigan jumps back on top to end the first half
Michigan took the momentum right back at the end of that half after a consequential hook-and-hold call on Alex Karaban, UConn’s senior leader.
Karaban was whistled for the foul after a review and Michigan hit two free throws to tie the game and then got a bucket to take the lead. From there, it was a mini run to establish a two-possession lead but UConn didn’t let them go too far away.
A dunk from Roddy Gayle Jr. brought the Michigan fans back to life and it’s been loud in here for the last several minutes.
The halftime score is Michigan 33, UConn 29 and we’ve got ourselves set up for a dramatic second half here in Indy.
UConn takes the momentum and is frustrating the Wolverines
UConn has taken the momentum from the fired-up Wolverines fans and is making Michigan work for everything in this one.
It’s a tight game as we approach the final media timeout of the first half and UConn has a slim lead. The Wolverines can’t hit from beyond the arc, having not hit a 3-pointer yet, and the hustle of the Huskies is getting under the skin of the throng of fans here in Indianapolis.
The Huskies are pumped up as they take a 25-23 lead, with head coach Dan Hurley turning to his sliver of fans behind the UConn bench and waving his arms for them to make some noise.
This is the rock fight that UConn would have wanted and Michigan may have feared. Dusty May will have some halftime adjustments to make to get some of his key guys – Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara and Trey McKenney all having quiet nights so far – into something resembling a flow.
Michigan holds a thin lead, but UConn has a chance to take the advantage
A little more than eight minutes into this game and Michigan had control early, using their size down low to pick up rebounds – three offensive boards in the opening minutes.
It’s a defensive struggle so far as both teams are still feeling each other out in this massive game.
One thing that has been revealed: The crowd is incredibly in favor of Michigan. Each bucket from UConn reveals they have approximately three slivers of this stadium, and the rest is dominated by Michigan.
A three by Alex Karaban brings the Huskies to within one point and then a foul by Elliot Cadeau will give the Huskies the chance to take the lead when the commercial break ends. It’s 11-10 Michigan with 11:57 left in the first half.ts
The national championship game is underway as the ball is tipped
The ball is in the air and we’re underway at Lucas Oil Stadium in the men’s national championship game between Michigan and UConn!
Follow along with the live commentary above for moment-to-moment updates and analysis and we’ll have highlights and major moments for you here.
Dan Hurley knows he’s intense with officials. He’s not changing.
UConn coach Dan Hurley can be so combustible that you can roast marshmallows near him when he really gets fired up.
Hurley’s interactions with officials have been the subject of a lot of discussion over the last week, particularly after a viral clip showed him going forehead-to-forehead with official Roger Ayers after Braylon Mullins’ dramatic 3-pointer to send the Huskies to the Final Four.
Ayers brushed off that moment in an interview with ESPN, and Hurley said he’s not changing his demeanor during games.
“For some people we’re just out there playing a game. For me it’s a life-or-death battle. It’s a war. It’s a street fight for me,” he told reporters on Thursday. “However you look at sports, or people on social media that comment on how the combatants carry themselves, that’s not really for me to judge. I approach sports as a competitor the way that I do. My responsibility is to win games and obviously do a great job for my players. Those are really the only two things I’m concerned with.”
He added that he feels like knows where the line is come tournament time, and doesn’t believe he’s crossed it yet.
“I’m an intense coach. It’s not easy to work my games. But I’ve always gotten zero technical fouls in my NCAA tournament coaching career,” he said.
And then he realized he may have jinxed himself.
“Oh, my God, now I’m going to get bounced out of this thing. Oh, my God,” he said with a laugh. “Getting walked out of a stadium, long walk.”
Dusty May might be the master of college basketball’s new landscape
Ahead of the Sweet 16 last weekend, a graphic went viral on X that showed the schools at which each team’s starting lineup began their college career.
A casual fan of college ball would have had a hard time recognizing which lineup belonged to the University of Michigan.
Head coach Dusty May has engineered a remarkable turnaround for the Wolverines. In just two years, bouncing back from the moribund final year of Juwan Howard’s tenure – an 8-24 record, a last-place finish in the Big Ten – to become arguably one of the favorites to cut down the nets on Monday in the national title game. That success has largely come through the transfer portal – of the starters in U-M’s Elite Eight game against Tennessee, zero began their career at Michigan.
This weekend, May focuses on bringing a national title to Ann Arbor. After that, it’s a matter of ensuring the rapid success he’s found at Michigan turns into a lasting run and an identity as a program. It’s work that’s been underway since the moment he arrived in Washtenaw County, Michigan.
The process of building an identity in his first season at the helm at U-M has paid dividends in year two.
Michigan has looked like one of the best teams in college basketball – maybe even one of the best college basketball teams in recent memory – since the start of the season when it was blowing away teams by 30 or more points. Since then, May’s team has gone 35-3, winning the Big Ten regular season title comfortably and then cruising into the title game tonight.
May: "We want guys to play with freedom"
Michigan’s Dusty May may have found the secret to coaching: “Teaching with positivity.”
‘We want guys to play with freedom – to put their own special sauce into what we’re doing, but also learn from the mistakes they make,” May told CNN’s Coy Wire.
Raised just under two hours away from Lucas Oil Stadium, the stage for tonight’s national title game, May’s shot at winning it all feels extra sweet.
May was brought on by the Wolverines in 2024. He rebuilt the program from the bottom up, in what many are considering the most impressive reconstructive missions in the modern era of college basketball.
An elite versus elite matchup
Dusty May said it best: “UConn isn’t going to beat themselves.”
“This program, over the last four years, has done something that we in coaching didn’t think could be done,” May told CNN’s Coy Wire. “Three national championships in a four-year window in the current landscape of college athletics is unprecedented.”
Rolling on a 34-5 season, the Huskies are chasing after history with Dan Hurley at the helm.
But when it comes to playing Michigan in tonight’s title game, the feeling is all too familiar.
“For me, it’s like looking in the mirror at what we looked like in 2024,” Hurley told CNN’s Coy Wire. “I’m really, really glad we’re not playing them in a seven-game series.”
Michigan is "scary with the size"
The average height on Michigan’s roster 6-foot-7.
With eight players over 6-foot-5, the Wolverines have one of the best height advantages in the NCAA.
Anchored by 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara and 7-foot-2 freshman Malick Kordel, Michigan has dominated the paint and the glass.
“The size, obviously, jumps out at you,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said. “They’ve just been dominant, just scary with the size, scary with the rebounding that they’ve got just a great scheme.”
Karaban looks for a third title
In a world full of transfer portal switch ups, NIL deals and pro-ball opportunities, it’s rare to see a college athlete stick around with the same program for their entire career.
UConn’s Alex Karaban, however, is one of the last.
The redshirt senior had an untraditional collegiate start, winning back-to-back national championships with the Huskies.
He’s now 18-1 in NCAA tournament appearances, tying Bobby Hurley, his coach’s brother, for second on the all-time tournament wins list.
“You dream of being on this stage one time, and to be heading into it for a third time, it’s a blessing,” Karaban said. “It’s the reason why I came back. It’s the reason why I’ve had extremely hard decisions to make throughout my career.”
As the team’s second best scorer, Karaban has been influential during UConn’s historic postseason run, scoring double figures in the Huskies’ first three games.
“I’ve always wanted to come back to win, to win championships, and to leave a legacy that’s unmatched in college basketball,” Karaban said.
If UConn gets the job done tonight, Karaban will be the first non-UCLA player to win three titles.
Ball, Demary Jr. starting in the title game despite pain
UConn’s Solo Ball and Silas Demary Jr. were left off the Huskies’ injury report ahead of tonight’s game, and are in the starting lineup.
Dan Hurley revealed Ball suffered from “some type of foot sprain” during the Huskies’ Final Four win over Illinois on Saturday.
The 6-foot-4 junior credited “adrenaline” for getting him through the remaining 16 minutes of the game. Ball, who averaged 12.9 points per game, mentioned he was “feeling alright” on Sunday.
“I’m leaving it up to the medical staff and doing everything I can to prepare for tomorrow,” Ball said.
Silas Demary Jr. endured a high ankle sprain in the Big East tournament final, forcing the Huskies’ starting guard to miss the first game of the NCAA Tournament against Furman.
“I’m feeling fine,” Demary Jr. said. “Fine as I’ve been the whole time, just doing what I can do with the medical staff every day to try to prepare myself to be ready for the game. I know I’m playing.”
Hurley says May's Michigan has "no real holes"
Before Dusty May was brought on to head Michigan’s men’s basketball program, the Wolverines posted a 8-24 overall record and a 14th place finish in the Big Ten.
In just three years time, May has led Michigan to a 36-3 overall record and its first national title game since 2018.
After the Wolverines’ 91-73 Final Four win over Arizona on Saturday, Michigan became the first in NCAA tournament team history to score 90 points or more in five straight games in a single tournament.
Five Wolverines scored in the double figures, led by Aday Mara’s 26 points.
“If you look at that roster, his talent evaluation, his roster construction, his culture, both ends of the court, plus the rebounding, just there’s no real holes in any of it,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said. “This is a coach who’s very confident, very secure in what he does in every way.”
In college, May was a team manager under Hall of Famer Bob Knight at Indiana University.
While he rarely drew on Bob Knight’s lessons as a college student in Bloomington, those tidbits of advice have returned to him in waves since he became a head coach.
“It’s almost like your parents, where you instantly start referring back to all the lessons you’ve learned,” May said. “I’ve spoken with some of his old assistants about what his process was for the Final Four, what he was looking at from a scouting advantage.”
May was spotted courtside during UConn vs. Illinois on Saturday, jotting down notes as the game unfolded.
“We talk about all year that the biggest game of the season is the next game,” May said. “It’s always the biggest game of the season.”
The bluest of blue bloods returns to the title stage
Since the late 1980s, UConn has been a college basketball staple, winning both men’s and women’s championships consistently and dominantly.
The UConn men’s squad has won six national championships, and are hoping to get their seventh.
This year’s Huskies are trying to give Dan Hurley his third national title in four years – a feat only John Wooden and Adolph Rupp have accomplished.
Hurley’s tenure at UConn has reignited the championship culture former Huskies’ head coach Jim Calhoun, who won three national titles, embodied.
“Our culture is unique,” Hurley said. “It’s specific. Takes a certain type of player to play for me. It takes a certain type of player to play at UConn.”
So, what does that certain type of player look like?
Take Solo Ball, Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. for example.
The three Huskies have racked up a combined 228 points this postseason.
The starting lineups are out for UConn and Michigan
Here’s who will be starting tonight’s game for the Huskies and the Wolverines.
UConn:
- Solo Ball, guard
- Silas Demary Jr., guard
- Tarris Reed Jr., center
- Alex Karaban, forward
- Braylon Mullins, guard
Michigan:
- Elliot Cadeau, guard
- Nimari Burnett, guard
- Aday Mara, center
- Morez Johnson Jr., forward
- Yaxel Lendeborg, forward
Dusty May on Elliot Cadeau: "He's a wizard with the ball"
From the get-go, Dusty May knew Elliot Cadeau had a “unique gift.”
With experience playing overseas and a previous stint at North Carolina under his belt, Cadeau came to Michigan with a basketball IQ unlike any other.
Cadeau went 5 of 17 from the field with six turnovers during Michigan’s Final Four win over Arizona, but nabbed 13 points, 10 assists and 4 steals.
“We felt like he controlled the game,” May said. “He gets our guys in closeouts almost every single possession, and there aren’t a lot of guys in college basketball that can do that.”
Both fan bases are well-represented in Indy. Expect this one to be loud
If the crowd at the Final Four fanfest is any indication, this is going to be a very pro-Michigan crowd at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday.
However, if the crowd in downtown Indianapolis on Sunday night is a better barometer, UConn fans will be out in force as well.
All in all, it’s definitely going to be boisterous.
The UConn fans filled the bars and restaurants in Indianapolis’ lively downtown district late Sunday night, as chants of “U-C-O-N-N UConn UConn UConn!” filled the air repeatedly. The few Michigan fans who were out and about enjoying some late Easter night libations were demure in the face of the Huskies’ noise.
But on Monday at the fanfest, it appears a ton of Michigan fans have made the approximately four-hour drive down from southeast Michigan to be in attendance for tonight’s game.
The vast majority of people wearing team apparel – there were some Ohio State shirts and other nearby schools – were in maize-and-blue. Perhaps Huskies’ fans are too familiar with this stage of the season to attend the fanfest, but the Wolverines were certainly out in force.
The early signs from inside the stadium: Michigan fans are here and are loud. It’s Ann Arbor South at the moment.
By the time tip off comes at 8:50 p.m. ET, we’ll have a much better idea of who will have the home-court advantage in Indy.
Lendeborg to "give it a go" on hurt leg
Despite a sprained MCL and ongoing ankle injury, Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg is expected to “give it a go” during tonight’s national championship game against UConn.
Lendeborg, who averages 15.1 points per game as the team’s leading scorer, underwent an MRI earlier today. All imaging came back clean, according to Wolverines’ head coach Dusty May.
“Whatever version of Yaxel we get it’s going to be somebody that helps us play better basketball,” May said.
The 6-foot-9 forward endured the injury during Michigan’s 91-73 Final Four win over Arizona on Saturday.
After spending some time in the locker room for medical evaluation, Lendeborg eventually returned to the court.
“He played the second half like a 38-year-old at the YMCA – and a really good 38-year-old at the YMCA,” May said.
Hometown hero Braylon Mullins returns to Indiana
When UConn head coach Dan Hurley recruited Braylon Mullins, he promised to bring him back to Indiana for the Final Four in 2026.
Last week, Mullins hit a game-winning 3-pointer against Duke to punch the Huskies a ticket to the NCAA tournament’s semifinals and fulfill Hurley’s promise.
Now, the hometown hero is playing for a shot at a national title just 30 minutes away from where he grew up.
UConn toppled Illinois 71-62 on Saturday night to advance to its third title game in four years. The Huskies sealed the deal with yet another last-minute 3-point shot from Mullins.
“We’re so ready for the national championship game, this is what I came here to play for,” Mullins said following the win.
Despite only nabbing two baskets in the second half, Mullins finished the night with 15 points.
The 6-foot-6 freshman was crowned Indiana’s “Mr. Basketball” after averaging 32.9 points per game as a high school senior at Greenfield-Central.
