Michigan blows out San Diego State in opening round of Players Era Festival

The Michigan Wolverines moved to 5-0 on the season with a 94-54 win over San Diego State on Monday night in the first round of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

Six different Michigan players finished in double figures, headlined by 15 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists from graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg. Junior guard Elliot Cadeau and sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. finished with 13 points apiece, while graduate guard Nimari Burnett and senior Roddy Gayle Jr. had 11 points each.

Michigan will next play Auburn on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT in a rematch of last season’s Sweet Sixteen, a 78-65 Tigers win. From there, the tournament will reseed the field 1 through 18 to determine who plays whom in the final two days on Wednesday or Thursday with record, head-to-head and point differential determining the pecking order.

Here is the blow-by-blow recap from Las Vegas.

First half

Michigan won the opening tipoff, but San Diego State got the scoring started early with a quick 5-0 run in the first 1:01 of game time. Michigan got on the board at the 18:42 mark with a three-pointer from Yaxel Lendeborg to cut the lead to 5-3. Morez Johnson Jr. hit a shot 30 seconds later to tie the game at 5-5 with 18:12 to go in the half. Miles Byrd of the Aztecs gave his team the lead back with a jumper at 17:18, moving the score to 7-5.

Michigan rattled off a 12-0 run over the next 2:46 thanks to baskets from Lendeborg (and a fee throw) and Cadeau and a pair of triples from Will Tschetter, stretching the early advantage to 17-7 with 14:10 remaining. SDSU’s BJ Davis stopped the run with a jumper at 13:12 before a 4-0 burst from U-M on a putback by Aday Mara and a pair of Lendeborg free throws, stretching the advantage to 21-9 with 12:17 on the clock. Aztec big man Magoon Gwath buried a triple with 11:36 remaining to cut U-M’s lead back to single digits at 21-12, answered 25 seconds later by an LJ Cason layup for the Wolverines (23-12, 11:11). Pharoah Compton split a pair of free throws at 10:49 to cut the lead to 23-13 before Nimari Burnett hit a pair of free throws at 10:06, and Lendeborg got into the lane for a layup at 9:23, pushing U-M’s double-digit advantage up to 27-13.

Gwath scored 23 seconds later to move the score to 27-15, answered at the 8:25 mark by a Burnett layup. The Wolverines would lead 29-15 at the under-8 media timeout with 7:48 to go. Coming out of the timeout, Burnett sank another triple to push the lead to a game-high 17 points at 32-15, and SDSU responded 11 seconds later with a triple from Reese Dixon-Waters (32-18, 7:11 remaining). Tschetter got into the paint for a layup to extend the lead to 34-18 with 6:12 to go before a 5-0 SDSU run cut U-M’s advantage to 34-23 with 5:03 remaining.

Mara and Gayle scored a pair of paint buckets between 4:40 and 4:17 to push U-M’s lead back out to 15 at 38-23 before a 6-0 Aztec run on a pair of triples cut the deficit to single digits at 38-29 with 3:36 to go. Johnson stopped the run for Michigan by making a pair of free throws at 2:25, pushing the lead back up to 11 at 40-29. Two Elzie Harrington baskets for SDSU and a Mara layup for the Wolverines had the score at 42-33 with 1:26 to go. Burnett ended the scoring in the half with a triple at the 1:05 mark to put U-M up 45-33.

Michigan 45, San Diego State 33

Second half

Michigan started the half with possession, but a foul underneath the basket by Lendeborg handed the Aztecs the ball. Johnson got the scoring started on a nifty assist from Mara in the paint, giving U-M a 47-33 advantage at the 19:07 mark. Johnson added another bucket in the paint at 18:13 to put Michigan up 49-33, which was followed by a long review on a potential flagrant foul on an elbow from Johnson to SDSU’s Gwath. Nothing came of it, and play resumed with the Michigan forward hitting his and-one free-throw attempt. Just under a minute later, Lendeborg hit a three from the right corner to extend the lead to 53-33 in favor of the Wolverines at the 17:19 mark.

Gwath hit a pair of free throws at 17:02, followed by a Harring jumper to cut the Wolverines’ lead to 53-37 with 16:35 to go. Johnson hit another pair of free throws at the 16:06 mark, which put the score at 55-37 at the under-16 media timeout. At the 14:38 mark, Roddy Gayle Jr. cut through the lane for a Michigan layup to extend the lead back to 20 at 57-37. Dixon-Waters hit a pair of free throws at 13:25 to bring the deficit back into the teens before a 9-0 run from Michigan, thanks to a Johnson layup and 7-straight points from Gayle, headlined by a layup, steal and an and-1 layup and free throw within 9 seconds. Michigan would push its lead out to 66-39 with 11:38 to go. Davis ended the run for SDSU by a make from three-point range, answered a minute later by a Cadeau jumper for the Wolverines (68-42, 10:33).

Compton hit a free throw at the 10:17 mark, answered by a 5-0 run from Michigan, all coming via Cadeau, who hit a three and scored on a fast break layup to push the lead up to 30 at 73-43 with 9:27 to go. Degourville hit a pair of free throws for the Aztecs at 9:15 before a 7-0 run for the Wolverines on free throw makes from Burnett, Mara, another Cadeau triple and a Lendeborg layup to go up 80-45 with 7:08 remaining. SDSU’s Jeremiah Oden ended the run at 5:51 with a dunk to trim the lead to 82-47.

Michigan began to empty its bench with under 5 minutes to go. Harrington hit a pair of free throws with 4:23 to go to cut Michigan’s lead to 33 points at 82-49. Cason put a dunk on the board at the 4:03 mark, answered 6 seconds later by a triple from Newman. The Michigan bench mob went on a 10-0 run thanks to a pair of Trey McKenney triples, a Tschetter jumper and an Oscar Goodman jumper to stretch the lead to 94-52 with 1:26 to go. Harrington hit a jumper to close out the scoring on the night, and Michigan won 94-54.

Michigan 94, San Diego State 54

Final Michigan vs. San Diego State box score