Michigan
Arizona
Top-Seeded Wolverines, Wildcats Set for Saturday Night Final Four Showdown
3/31/2026 9:04:00 AM | Men's Basketball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Big Ten regular-season champion and No. 1 Midwest seed University of Michigan men's basketball team (35-3, 19-1 Big Ten), ranked No. 3 nationally, will take on Big 12 regular-season and tournament champion Arizona (36-2, 16-2 Big 12), the No. 1 seed in the West and No. 2-ranked team, in the second national semifinal Saturday (April 4) at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The evening's action begins with No. 2 seed UConn (33-5, 17-3 Big Ten) facing No. 3 seed Illinois (28-8, 15-5 Big Ten). The winners will advance to Monday's (April 6) national championship game. All contests will air on TBS, with additional coverage on TNT and truTV, and feature Ian Eagle, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson on the call.
Notes
• Michigan is making its ninth Final Four and third in the last 10 NCAA Tournaments appearances. The Wolverines hold a 7-1 all-time record in national semifinals and have reached the national title game from each of their last seven Final Fours.
• U-M punched its ticket to the Final Four with wins over No. 16 Howard (101-80), No. 9 Saint Louis (95-72), No. 4 Alabama (90-77) and No. 6 Tennessee (95-62).
• The Wolverines have now advanced to seven consecutive Sweet 16s and have reached the Elite Eight five times in their last 10 NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Michigan has consistently filled the stat sheet, recording at least 90 points, 25 field goals, 15 assists, 10 three-pointers and eight blocks in each of its four NCAA Tournament games. Six players are averaging double figures in scoring, with a seventh just shy at 9.5 points per game. Yaxel Lendeborg leads the way at 21.0 points per game.
• Lendeborg has posted three straight 20-point performances, tallying 25 against Saint Louis, 23 against Alabama and 27 against Tennessee. During that stretch, he has added 25 rebounds and 13 assists while shooting 61.3 percent from the field and 70.0 percent from beyond the arc, hitting at least three three-pointers in each game.
• He becomes the first Wolverine since Juwan Howard (1994) to record three consecutive 20-point games in the NCAA Tournament and just the fourth in program history, joining Glen Rice (6; 1989), Howard and Cazzie Russell (3; 1965).
• Elliot Cadeau has recorded at least seven assists in four straight games. His 33 total assists rank third in a single NCAA Tournament in program history, behind Rumeal Robinson (56; 1989) and Trey Burke (38; 2013).
• Against Tennessee, Cadeau added eight points and 10 assists for his fifth career game with double-digit assists. He also surpassed 1,000 career points (1,003) and 600 career assists (603) across his time at Michigan and North Carolina.
• Cadeau's 10-assist performance marked the 10th such game in Michigan NCAA Tournament history, joining Rumeal Robinson (3), Gary Grant (2), Zavier Simpson, Derrick Walton Jr., Trey Burke and Jalen Rose.
• With two blocks against Tennessee, Aday Mara extended his single-season blocks record, becoming the first Wolverine to reach 100 and surpassing Roy Tarpley's previous mark of 97 set in 1985-86.
• Michigan's 35-3 record sets a new program standard for wins. The Wolverines are the first Big Ten team to finish 30-plus games over .500 since Wisconsin in 2014-15 and hold a +14.3 average margin of victory in 12 games (10-2) against ranked opponents, including four wins by 30 or more points.
