Born in the gym, built for the stage: The friendship driving Michigan’s Final Four run

INDIANAPOLIS — If you turned your attention to TikTok ahead of No. 1 seed Michigan’s beatdown of No. 1 seed Arizona in the Final Four, you’d find Yaxel Lendeborg, Roddy Gayle Jr., and Trey McKenney sitting in their hotel room chatting with fans and anyone who decided to join their TikTok live.

What was a bond kindled from a workout together has now become an incredibly close friendship and one of social media’s most entertaining groups of collegiate athletes. Lendeborg, Gayle, and McKenney weren’t always the most outgoing, and individually, they still aren’t. So at first, it took them a while to warm up to each other.

“It happened on accident,” Gayle said. “All three of us are just kind of quiet, shy guys, kind of homebodies, so if it wasn’t for (Michigan assistant coach Mike Boynton Jr.) having us work out together, we probably wouldn’t be in this position.”

Individually, Lendeborg, Gayle and McKenney are all inherently quiet and shy — traits that can run counter to the energy basketball demands on the court. But that first workout started a tradition of daily workouts with Boynton that went from a simple routine and way to get extra reps to fostering their relationship both on and off the court.

“We do it every day, something we’ve been doing most all season,” Boynton said. “They’ve been a tremendous group of young men to work with, but it’s because they have a desire to get better. They push each other, they challenge each other. I just get in there to give them pointers, to guide them and to shag a few balls.”

Oddly, it all started with the group’s youngest player. As a freshman, McKenney frequently stayed in the gym to put up extra shots and work on his craft. One day, he left his comfort zone and asked Lendeborg and Gayle to join him.

“It started with me working out, because I usually get a lot of extra work in besides practice, and one day I invited both of them to my workout,” McKenney said. “Since then, we just became best friends as a group. It’s something that’s special, though, because to be able to have them by your side through this, and me being so young, them being the older guys it’s cool to have them around me, for sure.”