Michigan disposes of Connecticut, wins first national championship in 37 years

Michigan basketball has won the 2025-26 national championship. The Wolverines dumped the Connecticut Huskies, 69-63, in the national final to claim their second title in program history, and their first since 1989.

Elliot Cadeau led the way for U-M in scoring with 19 points on 5-of-11 shooting. He also connected on one of his four 3-point attempts. Cadeau made one of Michigan’s just two 3-pointers on the night. Trey McKenney drilled the only other 3-pointer, and it was a dagger late in the second half.

Michigan went the entire first half without making a 3-pointer, and it scored just six of its 69 points from beyond the arc.

The difference in the game was Michigan’s elite free throw shooting. At one point in the second half, the Wolverines connected on 20 consecutive free throw attempts, and they finished the contest an astounding 25-of-28 from the charity stripe.

Yaxel Lendeborg, who was hobbled for most of the game but still played 36 minutes, and Morez Johnson Jr. finished the game alongside Cadeau in double figures in scoring with 13 and 12, respectively. Off the bench, Trey McKenney added nine and Roddy Gayle Jr. finished with four.

In the end, more than 36 percent of Michigan’s scoring in the national championship game came from the free throw line, while less than nine percent came from beyond the arc.

Connecticut’s game plan of mucking things up and slowing the game down was executed almost flawlessly, but Michigan’s versatility was simply too much for the Huskies to handle.

After scoring 90 or more points in all five games leading up to the title game and bludgeoning teams in the process, Connecticut’s only shot was to limit Michigan’s possessions. The Wolverines only had 55, and the game plan almost worked.

But in the end, Michigan proved what it had already proved all season long. The Wolverines were able to win in so many different ways, and it propelled them to their second national championship in school history.