‘We still feel like we’re the best in the country’: Where Michigan stands ahead of the NCAA Tournament

CHICAGO — Gone was the laughter, the banter, the smiles that had filled Michigan’s locker room deep inside the United Center over the last two afternoons. Instead, the mood was quiet and the answers short. The tone was that the 80-72 loss they had just suffered to Purdue was far below their standard.

“We can’t let nobody come in here and punk us again,” graduate guard Yaxel Lendeborg said. “We had that happen with Duke. We should have learned from that mistake. But today is, I guess, a worse learning point for us. We lost the championship that we really deserved, that we wanted, so next game, we’re gonna do our best to win down low and dictate the tempo.”

Lendeborg, who led Michigan with 20 points and five rebounds, including four threes, appeared to sustain a minor lower-body injury after slipping late in the second half.

After falling to the ground following a collision with Purdue’s Oscar Cluff and Fletcher Loyer, Lendeborg was slow to get up, taking some extra time to tie his shoes. He subbed himself out with 2:16 left in the game, sitting on the floor at the end of the scorer’s table as he grabbed his leg and winced. He returned rather quickly, grabbed two boards, and went 1-for-2 from deep.

Sitting at his locker postgame, he didn’t seem worried about the injury.

“They said it’s a low-ankle sprain,” Lendeborg said. “I don’t need to get X-rays, so I’ll be alright. … I’ve had it (before), both ankles, but it’s been a while.”

Like everyone else on the Wolverines’ roster, Lendeborg is ready for the next game.

“I’m just excited for the first game (of the NCAA Tournament), when we’re about to win, and I’m throwing the Michigan up like this, flexing the jersey Kobe style,” Lendeborg said, tugging at the letters stitched across his chest.

One of the other Michigan players with a significant offensive impact was Elliot Cadeau, who had a 10-point, 10-assist double-double in the loss. The junior point guard excelled in the first half, but slowed down as the rest of the Wolverines did in the second.

“We still feel like we’re the best in the country,” Cadeau said. “We just got to do the stuff we did the whole regular season. … Just coming out with more intensity next game and just using this loss to have a chip on our shoulder for the tournament.”