Yaxel Lendeborg powers Michigan in second half: ‘Sometimes he looks like [LeBron James] out here’

ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Wolverines found themselves in a closer-than-anticipated game at the half against Middle Tennessee on Wednesday night in Ann Arbor. It found its spark in the second half thanks to Yaxel Lendeborg‘s most aggressive offensive outing this season yet.

Lendeborg, a preseason National Player of the Year candidate, finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block in an 86-61 thrashing by the time clocks hit zero at Crisler Center. The sometimes-timid forward had 18 of his points in the second half to pace a 50-point second half output.

Lendeborg was banged up early in the season and has been working through an adjustment to expectations within head coach Dusty May’s system. While he sometimes prefers to be a distributor and get his teammates going, the second half needed to be a statement, and it was.

“ I feel like it helped a lot, not just for me, but just for my teammates as well, so everybody could try to get touches early on in the game,” Lendeborg said after the win. “I try to swing the ball as much as I can just to get everybody feeling a little good about the game.

“And then I feel like the second half it was more so that we had to go out there and punch them in the face first. That was pretty much my mindset going into the half and just being as aggressive as I can and trying to figure out who I am on this team and what I can do for this team.”

Michigan has as much talent as most teams in the country, but the vision is still coming together. But regardless of how it has looked so far, Lendeborg was brought in to be the straw that stirs the drink for the Wolverines. Wednesday night’s second half was more of what was envisioned when the transfer portal’s No. 1 player came to Ann Arbor.

 ”I’ve been saying it since I saw him, I feel like… sometimes he looks like [LeBron James] on the court,” sophomore guard LJ Cason said. “I tell him all the time. It looks so easy for him. He’s starting to really figure it out and it is only going to get better. He’s only going to make us better. And the team around him, he’s an unselfish player.

“…I feel like nobody can really stop him [when he takes over], but he’s just so unselfish that he doesn’t even want to score. He just falls into it, getting rebalanced and doing the unselfish things.”

Lendeborg admitted that the first three nights out for Michigan, he was just looking to find out where he fit into the big picture. After pondering it, he realized that was never the reason he came here in the first place.

“Honestly, these past few games, I can say I was settling in as a role player,” Lendeborg said. “I’ve had a a little bit of reflecting. I didn’t come here to be a role player. I came here, really, to be ‘the man.’ I feel like today I took a step in that direction to showcase that I’m more than just a role player. And I have a long way to go, but from now on I’m going to try to be a little more assertive every game.”

Lendeborg adjusts to Michigan expectations

Lendeborg says that he has not had to make any adjustments as an up-transfer and that any struggles he may have gone through were on him.

 ”I thought there was going to be [some adjustments],” he said. “I haven’t played a Big Ten opponent yet, but just playing high major [teams], it feels like basketball, honestly. I was being a little timid, but I see what I can do against Big East and the Big 12. It hasn’t really been a difference.”

A hand injury limited Lendeborg in the first week of the season, but he says that he has started to regain comfort and that progress is being made with his shooting.

 ”My hand has gotten a lot better,” Lendeborg said. “I’m still trying to figure out my release again. I feel like I was overthinking it a little bit once I hurt my hand and I’m finally getting back to actually flicking my wrist without the pain, so I’m good.”

Lendeborg also shared that a poor performance in Michigan’s 85-84 overtime win over Wake Forest in Detroit last week was weighing on him. That night, he went 4-of-12 from the floor with 9 points and 5 rebounds, and was taken off the floor for key stretches late in the game.

Now, the task will be to bottle tonight’s effort and carry it into each game moving forward.

 ”Be aggressive, be assertive,” he said of the message from May and the team. “After my Wake Forest game, where I played brutally, it was just like, ‘We’re here with you. Don’t get in your head too much.’ I was pretty much in my head the whole night and the whole day. So they’re just showing how much they love and appreciate me and how much they’re there for me.

“…I felt like that was the worst I’ve ever played in my life, honestly. And then just thinking about what it’s going to look like on my name if I do that badly, and I let it consume me. I felt like I lost at that game. I had hopes of us at least getting to 10-0 before we lose. It was just a really hard time for me, knowing I was missing layups, dropping rebounds and missing a lot of threes. It was a bad time for me.”

Michigan needs Lendeborg to be who he is, and nothing else that the coaching staff does not want him to be. Shifting the mindset from role player to star played a large role in his second-half turnaround against MTSU.

 ”It just shows me who I am and who I was before I got here,” he said. “I feel like when I got here, I started to try to become more of a three-and-D player, but that’s not who I am. I have a lot of time in the off-season to develop that. I have to stick to my roots and stick to what made me Yaxel Lendeborg.

“So I feel like today helped me out a lot, realizing what I can do and how aggressive I need to be to be dominant.”

Michigan is back in action in the three-game Players Era Tournament event in Las Vegas next week, where it will play San Diego State and Auburn, respectively, on Monday and Tuesday. A third game will take place on either Wednesday or Thursday.

“All 18 men’s teams will play on Monday, Nov. 24 and Tuesday, Nov. 25 in pre-set matchups, which will determine the championship matchups on Wednesday, Nov. 26,” the event says. “Teams that finish 2-0 entering Wednesday will be the first to qualify for the Players Era Championship game and the third place game, with 1-1 teams to follow. Tiebreakers will be determined by point differential, points scored and points allowed. All men’s games on Wednesday and Thursday will be determined following Tuesday’s final game. “