Wisconsin controlled the first 20 minutes, but Michigan basketball battled back to tie it at the half. In the second, Michigan was on its way until Austin Rapp went into inferno mode.
The Wolverines were up by 15, but because of Rapp's unconscious shooting, the Badgers tied it up in the blink of an eye. However, it was Michigan, which closed on an 8-3 run to win the thriller at the buzzer, thanks to Yaxel Lendeborg.
Here are three takeaways from Michigan's exhilarating 68-65 win over the annoying Badgers.
Yaxel Lendeborg replicated what Tre Donaldson did one year ago in the semifinals
Big Ten player of the year Yaxel Lendeborg called game with less than a second to go, which was reminiscent of what Tre Donaldson did to Maryland about 365 days ago. Donaldson went coast-to-coast, while on Saturday, Elliot Cadeau found a wide-open Lendeborg standing behind the 3-point line to send Michigan to the championship game for the second year in a row. It was similar to how he ended the first half of play to nod things up at the break.
For the first time in the history of the Big Ten, one school (Michigan) has defeated all 17 other members of the conference in the same season.
— Scott Bell (@sbell021) March 14, 2026
Aleksas Bieliauskas and Austin Rapp had the games of their lives against Michigan
Two of Wisconsin's starters, who average a combined 15 per game, went a combined 11-for-20 from deep and scored 35 points in the two meetings against the Wolverines. In the January loss, Bieliauskas had a sequence just like Rapp had on Saturday, where neither player could miss. This time around, though Michigan was up comfortably, the lead evaporated in a matter of moments. Unlike the first encounter, it was the Wolverines' turn to get the last word.
Hopefully Michigan doesn't have to play Wisconsin again
Wisconsin drained 31 3-pointers in two games against Michigan basketball this year. In last week's win at Purdue, they drilled 18 triples and 15 more in the Michigan State victory. This is not a team that I would want to see in Michigan's bracket. They can hang with anyone in the Big Ten and are more than capable of pulling off an upset over a top-four seed. If you take the score of both matchups this year, it proves that these two blue bloods are equal.