Newsstand: Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg named Big Ten Player of the Week

The Michigan Wolverines moved up to No. 3 in the men’s basketball AP Poll on Monday afternoon after a dominant week at the Players Era event in Las Vegas, beating three KenPom top-50 teams (San Deigo State, Auburn, Gonzaga) by a combined 110 points.

Outside of the team honor that it earned on the floor, its star player got some recognition on Monday, as well. Graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg won Big Ten Player of the Week honors after averaging 17.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.

Despite Lendeborg’s production, Michigan head coach Dusty May says that the best thing the third-ranked Wolverines have going for them is their unselfishness.

“I think our cheat code is our unselfishness,” May said. “So that would be it right now. I think each game is going to present some different opportunities for us based on who the other team is. But we do have some unique weapons. But I think right now our unselfishness is our cheat code.”

Michigan is in the middle of a 10-day off stretch between Vegas and its Big Ten opener, scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Crisler Center against Rutgers.

Tweets of the day

Michigan quote of the day

“We’re excited to have a week of practice and more time to continue to learn ourselves and get better as a program, but it’s also a test to see how we’re going to respond. Up to this point, we’ve had two practices since we returned from Vegas. And yesterday I thought was our most spirited practice of the year and probably our most productive as well. So that’s a good sign going forward. We’ve got to get lost in the fight and the process of improving. And so we’re off to a good start. We’re two for two. Hopefully, after today’s practice, we’ll be three-for-three.”

– Michigan hoops head coach Dusty May on the response to the week of wins in Las Vegas

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